End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller released the following statement on Donald Trump nominating oil and gas baron favorite North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to be Secretary of the Interior, a position that has significant oversight of the oil and gas industry:
“Donald Trump shook down oil and gas executives for a billion dollars and promised if elected, they would make their money back and more through tax cuts and deregulation. Now, with the nomination of Doug Burgum as Secretary of Interior, he’s following through on the corrupt bargain. And no one has more to gain than billionaire oil baron and GOP mega donor Harold Hamm, who has invested heavily in Trump and Burgum. With his guys in office, Hamm and his oil baron friends are poised to make out like bandits at the expense of the American people and our public lands.”
Read more:
New York Times: Trump’s Energy Guy Talked a Green Game but Now Sells Big Oil Priorities
- [Burgum] quickly endorsed Mr. Trump and joined his campaign, serving as an informal adviser on energy and helping to connect Mr. Trump with oil billionaires, according to two people familiar with the campaign.
- In April, Governor Burgum helped to bring oil and gas executives to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s private resort in Florida, for a now-infamous dinner during which Mr. Trump suggested that they raise $1 billion for his campaign. Mr. Trump told the executives they would save far more than that in tax breaks and legal fees after he repealed Mr. Biden’s climate agenda, according to several people who were present and who requested anonymity to discuss a private event.
- One of the other organizers of the Mar-a-Lago event was Harold G. Hamm, the billionaire founder and chairman of Continental Resources, one of the country’s largest independent oil companies and the largest leaseholder in the Bakken oil field that straddles North Dakota and Montana.
- Mr. Hamm has contributed both to Governor Burgum’s campaigns for governor as well as to his presidential bid. His company has also invested $250 million in a proposed $5.2 billion pipeline project in North Dakota.
Washington Post: This oil tycoon brings in millions for Trump, and may set his agenda
- After Donald Trump asked the oil industry to contribute $1 billion to his presidential campaign in April, oil baron Harold Hamm immediately started working the phones.
- This spring, Hamm had dinner with the former president during his New York hush money trial. He also lobbied Trump and his advisers to choose Burgum as a vice-presidential pick, two people with knowledge of his conversations said. The two men have deep business and personal ties: Continental Resources is the largest oil and gas leaseholder in North Dakota, and Burgum wrote a gushing review for the jacket of Hamm’s book.
CNBC: Trump VP prospect Doug Burgum and GOP oil baron Harold Hamm are allies in business and politics
- If former President Donald Trump taps North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to be his running mate, the biggest beneficiary of the partnership could be someone else entirely: Harold Hamm, the billionaire founder and executive chairman of shale oil drilling giant Continental Resources, who could end up with two powerful allies in a Trump White House.
- Burgum’s ties to Hamm and the shale oil drilling giant he founded are complex. Continental is the largest oil and gas leaseholder in North Dakota, where oil and gas is the biggest industry by revenue.
- But Burgum has an even more personal link to Continental: Burgum’s family leases 200 acres of farmland in Williams County to the energy giant for the company to pump oil and gas, according to previously unreported business records and a federal financial disclosure report.
- Burgum has made up to $50,000 in royalties since late 2022, while he’s been governor, from the deal with Continental Resources, according to his financial disclosure, details of which have not been reported.
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