https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/11/politics/doj-referral-house-natural-resources-committee/index.htmlThe House Committee on Natural Resources is referring an investigation involving "potentially criminal conduct" about a policy reversal involving former Trump administration officials to the Department of Justice, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
Committee Chairman Raśl Grijalva, along with chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Katie Porter, wrote in a letter dated Wednesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland that the committee has been investigating a case of what they described as a possible "quid pro quo" between Arizona developer Michael Ingram and senior level officials in the Trump administration, including then-Department of Interior Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt.
This is the first criminal referral by the House Committee on Natural Resources.
The case involves Ingram's 2017 efforts to build a housing and golf course project. Initially, a field supervisor for the US Fish and Wildlife Service had determined that it was "reasonably certain" that threatened and endangered species could be harmed by the development, but the decision was later reversed, and the project allowed to proceed.
"Since 2019, the House Committee on Natural Resources has conducted an extensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision on Oct. 26, 2017, to reverse its longstanding position regarding the proposed Villages at Vigneto development (Vigneto) in Benson, Arizona," Grijalva and Porter, both Democrats, write in their letter to Garland.
"Evidence strongly suggests the decision was the result of a quid pro quo between Vigneto's developer, Michael Ingram, and senior level officials in the Trump administration, potentially including then -- DOI Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt (Dep. Sec. Bernhardt)."
"This level of donor activity was not typical," the lawmakers wrote in the letter, adding their investigation suggested that "Ingram had a relationship with most of the donors."
