Around this time three years ago, then-North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum still had a reputation as a relatively pragmatic Republican with a successful private-sector background. After launching an ill-fated presidential campaign, Burgum was asked in July 2023 whether he would ever be willing to conduct business with Donald Trump, then his GOP primary rival.
“I don’t think so,” he responded.
In the months that followed, as his second term as governor ended and his national candidacy failed to gain traction, Burgum followed a painfully familiar path — the onetime Trump critic and rival became a sycophantic Trump ally — which worked rather well: He was a finalist for his party’s vice presidential nomination, and after Trump won a second term, Burgum was rewarded with a White House Cabinet post.
Things have gone downhill for him ever since.
For the past year and a half, Burgum has tried to lead the Interior Department, where, when he’s not saying foolish things about how solar power works, his principal responsibilities have focused on serving as the president’s “personal project manager,” overseeing assorted renovation projects that Trump has prioritized above his actual responsibilities.
As the Reflecting Pool fiasco helps prove, those efforts have not fared well. Indeed, during a contentious White House meeting nearly two weeks ago, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro reportedly upbraided Burgum, telling the president that it was the interior secretary and his department who screwed up the project and misled everyone, including Trump.
The prosecutor isn’t alone in expressing her frustrations with Burgum. Politico reported that Interior Department staffers are increasingly concerned about just how poorly the Cabinet agency is being run. From the article:
Some staffers were alarmed that some employees were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements, according to two former staffers. Former employees accuse Burgum of surrounding himself with a toxic leadership team, leading to staffers fleeing. Since Burgum came in, several top officials have left the agency — including the Senate-confirmed legal counsel, the secretary’s former chief of staff and Interior’s top energy official.
Tony Irish, who worked at the Interior Department for more than 20 years, including as associate solicitor for general law until he left last year, told Politico on the record that Burgum “appears to combine arrogance with an utter lack of curiosity or humility.”
The same report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, quoted three Interior Department staffers who said officials at the agency “have routinely shredded official documents and use disappearing Signal messages — even for mundane scheduling matters — to avoid communications being preserved, as is required by the Federal Records Act.”
Between these allegations and separate controversies surrounding other Interior Department officials — take Karen Budd-Falen, the agency’s third-highest-ranking official, for example — it’s clear that the agency would benefit from a strong and capable inspector general’s office, capable of serving as an independent watchdog within the department.
Last week, however, the president nominated Dennis Kirk to serve as the Interior Department’s inspector general. And while Kirk’s name might not sound familiar, you might have heard of his earlier work: Kirk co-authored the far-right policy blueprint Project 2025.
Mark Greenblatt, the Interior Department’s former IG, told The Hill that having someone with clear political leanings in this office was unprecedented and could hamper internal investigations.
By all appearances, this is precisely what Team Trump intends to do.
The post As Burgum’s troubles intensify at the Interior Department, Trump’s new move won’t help appeared first on MS NOW.
