Busted: Top Trump official admits to conflict-of-interest in 'slam dunk' video

Associate Deputy Secretary Karen Budd-Falen, a Trump appointee to the Interior Department, has confessed on video to her involvement in policy matters that could directly benefit her family business. This, say ethics watchdogs, may violate federal law.

Speaking before the Congressional Western Caucus event in December, reports the Washington Post, Budd-Falen noted that grazing policy is part of her job, and “the thing that probably was the closest to my heart was grazing regulations.” Her remarks are only now coming to light, prompting calls for an ethics investigation.

Per the Post, “Budd-Falen and her husband own at least five cattle or ranch operations in Nevada and Wyoming, according to her federal financial disclosure forms, each valued at more than $1 million. The couple’s companies additionally hold allotments that allow them to graze cattle on about one-quarter-million acres of federal land overseen by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management. In the video, Budd-Falen discusses relaxing limits on grazing using a ‘categorical exclusion’ that also applies to land controlled by her husband, following the death of her father-in-law. She said that she aims to increase the number of grazing allotments handed out to ranchers and no longer declare areas as critical habitat for endangered species, a designation that can hurt landowners.”

In light of this admission, the nonpartisan watchdog group Campaign for Accountability has announced plans to send a letter to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee demanding that Congress investigate whether Budd-Falen violated ethics laws. The group also wants an investigation into whether the Interior Department’s ethics office failed in its role as an independent check on her conflicts of interest.

“The situation with Karen Budd-Falen seems to be quite brazen in the scheme of conflicts of interest,” said the group’s executive director Michelle Kuppersmith. “She is, by her own admission, working on policy for grazing that will likely directly impact her own financial interests. And they’re not even trying to hide it.”

According to the Post, “Ranchers have lobbied the Trump administration to relax environmental restrictions and expand their access to public land for grazing, while environmental advocates say increased cattle grazing comes at the expense of wild animals and their habitats.” Budd-Falen, says experts, stands to benefit from reduced regulations.

Said Richard Painter, a former chief ethics lawyer under the George W. Bush administration, if Budd-Falen has received federal grazing rights from Interior, “that would be a pretty slam-dunk financial conflict of interest.”

According to three independent ethics experts and two watchdog groups, this is just the latest example of the Trump administration’s pattern of disregarding conflict-of-interest laws.

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