1. David Longly Bernhardt was born on August 17,1969 and is an American lawyer who served as the 53rd United States secretary of the interior from 2019 to 2021 in the administration of Donald Trump.
38 Facts About David Bernhardt
1. 2.
David Bernhardt previously was a shareholder at the Colorado law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where he was a lobbyist and natural resources attorney.
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David Bernhardt began working for the United States Department of the Interior in 2001, and served as the department's solicitor from 2006 to 2009 and deputy secretary from 2017 to 2019.
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President Donald Trump nominated Bernhardt to be the deputy secretary of the interior in April 2017.
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David Bernhardt was confirmed by the US Senate on July 24,2017, and sworn into office on August 1.
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David Bernhardt became acting secretary of the interior on January 2,2019, following Ryan Zinke's resignation.
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David Bernhardt was nominated to officially become Secretary of the Interior in February 2019 and was confirmed on April 11,2019.
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David Bernhardt's father was a county extension agent and his mother was in the real estate business.
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David Bernhardt was active in Colorado politics from the age of sixteen, when he made his case to the Rifle City Council not to levy taxes on arcade games at a teen center he was starting in his hometown.
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David Bernhardt left high school early, earning his GED, then his bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Colorado in 1990.
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David Bernhardt graduated with honors from the George Washington University Law School in 1994.
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David Bernhardt was admitted to the Colorado Bar Association later that year.
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David Bernhardt served early on at the DOI as director of congressional and legislative affairs.
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David Bernhardt was the United States commissioner to the International Boundary Commission, US and Canada.
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President George W Bush nominated Bernhardt to serve as Solicitor of the Department of the Interior in November 2005, subject to Senate confirmation.
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David Bernhardt was the DOI deputy solicitor at the time.
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David Bernhardt was sworn into office in November 2006, after being unanimously confirmed by the US Senate.
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David Bernhardt served as Solicitor from 2006 to January, 2009.
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David Bernhardt became a shareholder in the firm and chairman of the firm's natural resources law practice.
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David Bernhardt's clients included Westlands Water District, Halliburton, Cobalt International Energy, Samson Resources, and the Independent Petroleum Association of America.
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In 2011, David Bernhardt filed a lawsuit for the Westlands Water District that "sought to force the feds to make good on a commitment to build a multibillion-dollar system to dispose of the poisoned water" resulting from toxic irrigation in the Westlands district.
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Until the end of 2016, David Bernhardt remained an attorney and lobbyist for the Westlands Water District.
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David Bernhardt's nomination was strongly opposed by conservationists, fishing groups, and California Democrats, who cited his history of representing and lobbying on behalf of oil companies and agricultural interests as well as conflict-of-interest concerns arising from his firm's work on regulation issues with the DOI.
24.
At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in mid-May 2017, David Bernhardt testified that "I believe we need to take the science as it comes, whatever that is," and "apply the law and be honest with the science" at the Interior Department but said the president's views, rather than the recommendations of climate scientists, would guide the Interior Department's policies whenever possible.
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Ethics issues were raised by Senators such as Maria Cantwell, with David Bernhardt replying he took ethics very seriously.
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David Bernhardt said that unless he received authorization to do so, he would not involve himself substantially in any particular matter involving his former clients.
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David Bernhardt was then sworn into office on August 1,2017.
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In 2019, Politico reported that heads of the oil industry lobbying group Independent Petroleum Association of America celebrated their ties to David Bernhardt, who had IPAA as a client during his legal career.
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On January 2,2019, David Bernhardt became acting secretary of the interior, replacing Ryan Zinke.
30.
On February 4,2019, Trump nominated David Bernhardt to be Secretary of the Interior.
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David Bernhardt was confirmed by the Senate on April 11,2019, by a vote of 56 to 41.
32.
In May 2019, the House Oversight Committee investigated whether David Bernhardt was complying with record-keeping laws.
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In September 2019, the Government Accountability Office released a report finding that David Bernhardt, then acting secretary, had twice violated federal law when in January 2019 he directed the National Park Service to use park entrance fees for maintenance in keeping parks open during the government shutdown.
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David Bernhardt was chosen as the designated survivor during Trump's 2020 State of the Union Address.
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David Bernhardt relocated the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management from Washington, DC, to Grand Junction, Colorado, on August 11,2020.
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On September 11,2020, David Bernhardt introduced Trump at the Flight 93 Memorial.
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David Bernhardt is the chairman of the America First Policy Institute's Center for American Freedom.
38.
In November of 2024, the New York Times reported that David Bernhardt was involved in the Trump Vance presidential transition.