Participants at a meeting of oil industry executives and lobbyists can be heard laughing uproariously at boasts related to “unprecedented access” to the White House in a secretly recorded tape that was obtained by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. They also hailed the rise of one of their own: oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt, picked by Donald Trump for the No. Dan Naatz, the IPAA’s political director, said of Bernhardt at the recorded meeting: “David is a friend of mine. “Next week I’m invited to the White House to talk about tax code,” he added in the tape. Interior Department spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort told Reveal that Bernhardt “has had no communication or contact with either Barry Russell or Dan Naatz.

Source: Huffington Post March 24, 2019 05:15 UTC