Watchdog demands DOI investigate apparent violation of federal records laws

Tyler Cherry deleted thousands of tweets from his verified government X account.

Official federal government social media accounts contain federal records. Destroying federal records used to be a no-no. Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) is going to find out it if still is. Today, PPT called on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Department of the Interior (DOI) ethics and records officials to investigate possible violations of federal records laws and negligence by department leadership and officials in charge of compliance with those laws.

Former DOI communications official Tyler Cherry deleted more than 2,500 Twitter/X posts from his verified government account after the account sparked “a political firestorm” when media reports revealed several controversial posts. These deletions may constitute a violation of federal record keeping laws.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has declared, “Social media accounts created or used for official agency business must stay under the control of the agency.” While he was at Interior, Mr. Cherry went through the process of having his personal Twitter/X account verified as “a government or multilateral organization account.” This status is denoted by a gray checkmark on the account, which indicates that it is considered an official account of the agency. Thus, it presumably should fall under the NARA guidance for official accounts.

Mr. Cherry, who left DOI for a post at the White House in June of this year, made headlines in October 2023 after exposure of his past tweets featuring viewpoints that were portrayed as controversial and/or contradicting Biden-Harris administration’s stated policy. These included remarks calling the police “a direct evolution of slave patrols and lynch mobs,” offering prayers amid the 2015 Baltimore riots “for an end to a capitalistic police state motivated by explicit and implicit racial biases,” and “[c]heersing [sic] in bars” against Israel while claiming the nation occupies Palestinian land. Mr. Cherry also called for the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He later disavowed the posts after joining the White House.

All of the posts that caused the firestorm were on Mr. Cherry’s X account during the time it was a verified government account of a DOI official. Yet the department apparently never considered that such a status for the account would indicate to the public that the views expressed represented those of the department. Nor does it appear the department attempted to obtain control of the account, as per the NARA guidance, when Cherry left Interior.

“Yet again, Secretary Haaland’s Department of the Interior has fallen down on its responsibilities to enforce ethics and transparency obligations,” PPT director Michael Chamberlain said. “This episode raises a couple questions. First, why did DOI leadership allow this account to become verified as a government account in the first place? It included content that even the creator seemed to suggest was not consistent with the Biden-Harris administration’s stated agenda. Next, why was an employee allowed to take the account out of the control of DOI, in apparent violation of guidance by NARA? Finally, and probably most importantly, in light of this and recent Inspector General findings of ethics violations by high-ranking appointees, who’s minding the store at the Department of the Interior?”

###