[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 154 (Tuesday, September 24, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5641-S5642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Daniel Habib Jorjani

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, there is a job opening at the Interior 
Department, and that can mean only one thing: another Trump nominee 
who, incredibly, is already under investigation for misconduct, even 
before his first day on the job. This time, it is Daniel Jorjani, a 
long-serving Trump Interior official who is up for a powerful role as 
the Department's Solicitor.
  I say to the Presiding Officer and colleagues, I have put a hold on 
this nominee. If anything, the case for withholding action on this 
nominee has gotten greater in the last few days. Just in the last few 
days, the Department's inspector general has made it clear that this is 
an individual he is going to investigate. I will tell my colleagues 
that, if you are putting somebody already under investigation on a fast 
track to the Interior Department corruption hall of fame, right up 
there with Ryan Zinke, I believe that is a mistake the Senate is going 
to regret.
  It probably doesn't take an inspector general investigation to 
uncover why this is a mistake. I am going to explain it this morning, 
briefly.
  First, I believe it is important to start with an honest assessment 
of what Donald Trump appointees have done at the Interior Department. 
Under this President, it is often difficult for one agency's corruption 
to stand out above the rest, but somehow Interior Department officials 
manage to do that again and again.
  Mr. Jorjani, a former industry adviser for Koch Industries, is an 
example of just this type of behavior. The Office of the Interior 
Solicitor is in charge of legal issues and ethics for the Department. 
It is a big team with a lot of power. Mr. Jorjani has been a key member 
of the Solicitor's office.
  His own words indicate that he doesn't believe that his primary 
function at Interior is to protect public lands and uphold ethical 
standards. We have already heard discussion earlier this morning that 
he wrote to agency colleagues--and we have been quoting it--saying 
``our job is to protect the Secretary.'' Those are his words, not the 
words of anybody here in the Senate. What Senators may not know is that 
Mr. Jorjani was talking about Ryan Zinke, who brought on a category 5 
ethical hurricane during his brief time as Interior Secretary.
  In the same email, Mr. Jorjani boasted about having impeded inspector 
general investigations into the misuse of taxpayer funds for travel. It 
wasn't just talk. The record shows that covering up dirty ethics and 
potential lawbreaking is routine for Mr. Jorjani. By my count, there 
are at least four investigations into wrongdoing at the Interior 
Department that were closed or found inconclusive due to a lack of 
cooperation or records production on Mr. Jorjani's watch.
  These investigations covered a multitude of issues, from the 
potential misuse of expensive chartered travel to a halted study on the 
crucial health impacts of potentially dangerous Interior Department 
energy policies.
  Then there is the issue of the Interior Department's new policy under 
the Trump administration with respect to the Freedom of Information 
Act. The new policy--and again, this is a retreat from public interest 
standards--gives political appointees unprecedented control over the 
Department's response to Freedom of Information Act requests. In my 
view, it looks like an effort to conceal the fact that Trump Interior 
officials are spending their days doing the bidding of a host of 
special interests.
  There is clear evidence that this new secretive Freedom of 
Information Act policy was implemented under the Trump administration, 
that Mr. Jorjani knew about it, and that he was up to his eyeballs in 
putting this in motion.
  When I asked Mr. Jorjani about the Freedom of Information Act policy 
during an Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Mr. Jorjani 
actually claimed it didn't exist. He later told one of our colleagues, 
the distinguished Senator from Maine, Mr. King, that he had no 
involvement in Freedom of Information Act responses.
  I want it understood that I believe Mr. Jorjani lied to the Energy 
and Natural Resources Committee and perjured himself to that body.
  Colleagues, I know that Members on both sides are concerned about 
what has happened with the Freedom of Information Act under this 
administration. I want to commend the several Republican Senators who 
have said that they are troubled about what this administration is 
doing with the Freedom of Information Act--the so-called ``awareness 
reviews'' by appointees that really aren't hard to figure out. It is 
about secretive political interference.
  What we are seeing with the Freedom of Information Act is 
inconsistent with the intent of Congress, and it is wrong. The 
importance of government openness and honesty with the American people 
ought to be a bipartisan proposition. It is in the interest of 
everyone--Democrats and Republicans--to protect the Freedom of 
Information Act from evasion and protect it from abuse. That is part of 
why this new Interior policy on the Freedom of Information Act is so 
troubling.
  As I mentioned, on Friday, the Interior inspector general confirmed 
to me that Mr. Jorjani is currently under investigation for his role in 
this Freedom of Information Act policy. For colleagues who may be 
following this, let's just understand what is going on: We are getting 
ready to vote on whether to advance somebody who is under a formal 
inspector general investigation. The fact that the inspector general is 
investigating such a serious matter ought to be enough all by itself to 
stop this nomination from going forward.
  Certainly, Mr. Jorjani's own words about how he views the job--not 
about protecting the public but about protecting someone like Ryan 
Zinke--ought to be disqualifying. If Mr. Jorjani is confirmed, the 
person who will be in charge of ethics at the Interior Department told 
colleagues his job was to protect a crook. That is what he said.
  Colleagues, this administration in too many instances has made deceit 
and unethical conduct the norm at the Interior Department. Trump 
officials have sidelined the Department's core purpose, which is to 
protect our treasured public lands on behalf of all Americans. Too 
often, it seems, they side with special interests that will pollute 
America's air, poison the drinking water, fuel climate change, and 
destroy the treasures that Americans all love.
  At some point the U.S. Senate ought to draw the line. I think the 
Jorjani nomination is such a place.
  I urge my colleagues to oppose the nomination. I urge my colleagues 
to join me in voting no.
  I yield the floor.

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