Senate Republicans Attempting to Install a Right-Wing Operative, As Corruption Under Burgum Runs Rampant and New Revelations Expose Data Center and AI Conflicts
HELENA, MT – Tomorrow, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on right-wing extremist Dennis Kirk’s nomination to be Department of the Interior Inspector General. The former Heritage Foundation associate director and Project 2025 co-author has already been installed inside the very office he could lead. The confirmation hearing comes in a lame-duck session, after the historic rebuke of the Trump administration and weeks before Democratic control of the House and Senate begins. The Interior's Office of Inspector General has been sitting on several major corruption referrals involving Secretary Doug Burgum’s top officials, including one directed at Kirk himself. Confirming a partisan operative would let the people under investigation pick the investigator.
“Doug Burgum is steering America’s public lands toward an industry where he has tens of millions of dollars on the line, while his officials shred records and the referrals pile up,” said Jayson O’Neill, spokesperson for Save Our Parks. “Now the White House wants a political loyalist and a right-wing Project 2025 operative to be the one who decides whether any of it gets investigated. Rubber-stamping a right-wing operative picked by the very corrupt Trump officials he’s supposed to investigate and hold accountable is akin to letting the fox guard the henhouse, which would certainly mean more damage and exploitation of our wildlife, public lands, and parks.”
Kirk is a former Heritage Foundation associate director who co-wrote Project 2025’s federal workforce chapter and appeared in its training videos. At the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, he reportedly worked inside the intelligence community’s watchdog office while still reporting to Tulsi Gabbard during its “Signalgate” review. In August, before his nomination was even sent to the Senate, Kirk was installed in the Interior's Office of Inspector General as a political appointee. That office has had no Senate-confirmed IG since Trump fired Mark Lee Greenblatt, who served as Interior IG under both Trump and Biden and has called on the Senate to reject Kirk.
House Natural Resources Democrats warned Kirk in writing that his “heavily partisan record and lack of relevant experience” threaten the office’s independence. Kirk’s controversial confirmation hearing follows ProPublica’s explosive investigative reporting that showed Burgum, the White House’s point person on energy and AI infrastructure, holds upwards of $64.4 million in AI and data center-related stock through personal investments and his firm Arthur Ventures. Burgum made as much as $15.1 million off those investments last year. Meanwhile, Burgum is leading the push to open public lands to data centers — a clear conflict he should be recused from, according to a former Republican ethics official.
The lack of transparency, the waste, and the corruption under Burgum is already rampant. Interior staffers confirmed to Politico they watched officials routinely shred documents and use disappearing Signal messages to avoid Federal Records Act requirements. Two former officials said Burgum used a private email account for department business early in his tenure. Burgum also oversaw the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool debacle, run on no-bid contracts, which grew from an initial $1.5 million to $2 million estimate to more than $16 million. Center for American Progress tallies at least $1.6 billion in taxpayer-funded vanity projects, with park funds, including visitor fees, shifted to pay for them while the park system carries a $24 billion maintenance backlog.
Critical Questions For Longtime Trump Ally Dennis Kirk:
Conflicted nominee without independence
Who hired you into Interior’s OIG before your nomination, what was your job description, and who did you report to?
How long have you known and been friends with Donald Trump? Have you ever communicated with him directly?
Have you communicated with Secretary Burgum, his chief of staff, or the White House about any pending OIG matter at Interior or in your previous role at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence?
At the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, you reportedly worked inside the IG’s office while reporting to Director Gabbard. Did you see or influence the Signalgate review? Will you investigate the use of Signal and disappearing messages at Interior?
Will you recuse yourself from every investigation involving officials who helped place you in the OIG?
Illegal records destruction
Will you investigate reports that Interior officials shredded documents and used disappearing messages, and refer any unlawful destruction to the National Archives?
After being installed at the OIG, have you used Signal, auto-deleting messages, or personal email for official business? Have you destroyed any records?
Will you examine whether Secretary Burgum’s private email use complied with the Federal Records Act?
Burgum’s conflicted political cronies
In January, lawmakers requested an investigation into Karen Budd-Falen’s family ranch after selling groundwater rights to the Thacker Pass mine developer in a $3.5 million deal, paid out after federal approval, and that she did not disclose. What is the status of this referral, and what is the timeline for its completion?
Will you examine whether Fish and Wildlife Service scientists’ concerns about the mine were softened by political appointees?
Dr. Jenifer Chatfield oversees Fish and Wildlife and Park Service matters, yet Interior never announced her appointment. Will you investigate allegations that she advanced permits benefiting her family’s captive wildlife business?
Will you review how many other senior Interior officials were appointed without public notice?
Burgum’s data center and AI conflicts
Burgum holds up to $64.4 million in AI and data center-related tech investments while pushing data centers and related infrastructure onto public lands. Will you open a review of this direct conflict of interest and demand his recusal?
Will you investigate whether former Interior official Michael Boren’s investment in Valar Atomics played any role in Interior’s handling of Valar’s Utah land application?
Will you review Burgum’s nearly two-dozen known meetings with data center and tech corporations, along with his UAE dinner, preceding the AI agreement?
D.C. vanity projects, waste and no-bid contracts
Will you investigate if Burgum and National Park officials violated the National Parks Organics Act and other applicable laws after the destruction of the East Wing of the White House, East Potomac golf course, and other D.C. vanity projects?
Will you investigate the no-bid Reflecting Pool contract and whether evidence was withheld from federal prosecutors?
Will you audit whether park entrance fees, other park funds, and tax dollars were diverted to Trump’s wasteful D.C. vanity projects?
Will you investigate Burgum’s Freedom 250 pay-to-play scheme?
Save Our Parks urges members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to reject unqualified and conflicted nominee Kirk’s confirmation, and to ensure accountability for the ongoing fraud, waste, and abuse happening under Secretary Burgum.
To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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