U.S. rep joins ethics probe into Deb Haaland over shady financial disclosures
- July 29, 2022
John Block, Piñon Post
On July 20, the watchdog group Protect the Public’s Trust filed a complaint with the Interior Department’s Departmental Ethics Office over Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s financials claiming to report zero in assets despite drawing a six-figure congressional salary.
On Thursday, U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) called for the Office of Inspector General to conduct an audit into the “efficacy and effectiveness” of DOI’s Ethics Office. According to the Washington Times, Westerman cited “unanswered questions about Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s financial disclosures.”
“The American public grants incredible authority to Cabinet officials such as the Secretary of the Interior in return for full transparency,” said Protect the Public’s Trust’s director Michael Chamberlain. “It is extremely difficult to believe, in fact, strains credulity, that someone who had been making a congressional salary of $174,000 and was to be entrusted with overseeing a budget of more than $17 billion would not herself have a bank account.”