Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called on President Joe Biden to withdraw Tracy Stone-Manning’s nomination for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) director Friday due to her connection to an eco-terrorist incident.
“We now know that President Biden’s nominee to run the Bureau of Land Management lied to the Senate about her alleged participation in eco-terrorism,” McConnell said in a statement to Fox News. “The White House should immediately withdraw her nomination.”
The statement comes after every Republican on the Senate Energy Committee signed a letter Wednesday calling on Biden to withdraw Stone-Manning’s nomination. (RELATED: Lead Investigator Comes Forward, Says Biden’s BLM Nominee Was ‘Extremely Anti-Government’ And Actively Involved In 1989 Eco-Terrorism Incident)
Biden’s BLM nominee has faced ongoing heat over her involvement in a 1989 tree spiking incident. Tree spiking is a violent tactic where metal spikes are nailed into trees, making them unsafe to log. The process is also very harmful to tree-cutters. Stone-Manning did not cooperate with law enforcement officials investigating the event at the time.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (C) speaks to reporters after a Republican Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol Building on June 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Senate is in negotiations for a bipartisan infrastructure deal. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The Daily Caller News Foundation obtained a letter from a retired criminal investigator for the Forest Service who served as the lead investigator into a 1989 tree spiking case in Idaho. In the letter, Michael Merkley said that Stone-Manning was “extremely difficult to work with; in fact, she was the nastiest of the suspects” during the beginning of his investigation in 1989. (RELATED: ANALYSIS: ‘Anti-Government’?: Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Biden’s BLM Nominee)
Stone-Manning originally refused to comply with the investigation and then agreed to testify after she was caught. (RELATED: White House Affirms Support For BLM Nominee With Ties To Eco-Terrorism)
The Biden White House has defended Stone-Manning despite the news, saying in late June: “Tracy Stone-Manning is a dedicated public servant who has years of experience and a proven track record of finding solutions and common ground when it comes to our public lands and waters.”
“She is exceptionally qualified to be the next Director of the Bureau of Land Management,” the White House official told Fox News.