Image Credit: newsweek.com
David Bernhardt has been Deputy of the Interior since 2017, and has since been promoted to acting Secretary of the Interior when Ryan Zinke stepped down at the end of 2018. Today, February 4th, Donald Trump announced that his will be appointed Bernhardt as a permanent Secretary of the Interior.
Donald Trump, announcing his pick tweeted, “I am pleased to announce that David Bernhardt, Acting Secretary of the Interior, will be nominated as Secretary of the Interior. David has done a fantastic job from the day he arrived, and we look forward to having his nomination officially confirmed!”
Bernhardt has started his career in politics when he became a lawyer in Colorado. He started in the 1990’s and in 1998 he began working at a law and lobbying firm. He then began working as an Oil and Gas lobbyist, which is where he got his expertise in the field. Under President George W. Bush, he served as solicitor of the United States department of the Interior.
Bernhardt made a statement about being nominated, where he said it was a, “humbling privilege to be nominated to lead a department whose mission I love, to accomplish the balanced, commonsense vision of our president.”
Bernhardt still has to face confirmation but will continue to serve as Acting Secretary of the Interior until then.