Watchdog: Trump Interior secretary did not violate ethics rules with former client

Former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt did not violate departmental ethics and conflict of interest rules as secretary when dealing with a California agency for which he once lobbied, according to a report from the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

Bernhardt, who served as Interior secretary from 2019 to 2021, did both legal and lobbying work for the Westlands Water District (WWD) in central California before joining the Trump administration in 2017.

The ethics pledge he signed upon taking office includes a vow not to participate in “particular matters” involving former employers or clients in the next two years. However, the OIG report determined that because WWD is a state agency, it is excluded from the pledge’s definition of “former client.” The report further determined that Bernhardt’s work at Interior involving WWD were “broad matters” rather than “particular matters” as defined in the pledge.

Although WWD secured a long-term federal water contract under Bernhardt’s tenure, the report found that this was not the result of undue influence by Bernhardt, and that other water contractors were treated no differently in the contracting process. A federal judge invalidated the WWD deal in 2021.

The OIG report also indicated it found no evidence for allegations that Bernhardt ensured favorable Bureau of Reclamation contracts for WWD for California Central Valley Project water.

“The report completely vindicates Secretary Bernhardt,” Bernhardt’s attorney Danny Onorato told The Hill in an email. “The report confirms that the allegations against Secretary Bernhardt were meritless and that he fully complied with all his ethical and legal obligations from day one of his term of public service.”

The Center for Western Priorities (CWP), however, blasted the finding as a technicality that served as “a step-by-step instruction manual for future swamp creatures who want to help their clients while skirting their ethical obligations to the American people.”

“The report shows that Bernhardt found narrow grounds to avoid violating the letter of the law and his ethics pledge, while looking for every opportunity to violate it in spirit,” Aaron Weiss, deputy director at the CWP, said in a statement. “This investigation is not an exoneration—it’s an indictment of the Washington swamp, and the lengths that the ultimate swamp creature was willing to go to help his clients.”\

— Updated 5:38 p.m.