Mitch McConnell Calls on Biden to 'Immediately Withdraw' Nominee Linked to 'Eco-Terrorism' Plot
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urged President Joe Biden to end Tracy Stone-Manning’s nomination for Bureau of Land Management director “immediately” on Friday over concerns regarding her connection to an eco-terrorism plot.
“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,” he added.
The statement followed a letter Republicans on the Senate Energy Committee sent to Biden on Wednesday.
Every Republican on the committee sent a letter to @POTUS calling on him to withdraw Tracy Stone-Manning’s nomination to lead @BLMNational. Read the full letter here ⤵️ https://t.co/NyiOnLyeHN
— Senate Energy GOP (@EnergyGOP) July 14, 2021
“Ms. Stone-Manning has made false and misleading statements in a sworn statement to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (Committee) regarding her activities associated with an eco-terrorist cell whose tree spiking in Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest in 1989 put lives at risk,” the senators wrote.
“We believe that Ms. Stone-Manning’s false and misleading statements, as well as her extremist activities, disqualify her from serving as Director of this important agency,” they added.
The Senators who signed the letter included John Barrasso of Wyoming, Jim Risch of Idaho, Mike Lee of Utah, Steve Daines of Montana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, John Hoeven of North Dakota, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Roger Marshall of Kansas.
The statement introducing the letter concluded Stone-Manning was involved in “extremist activities that disqualify her for this important position.”
Barrasso tweeted, “This letter from the Forest Service lead investigator confirms Tracy Stone-Manning lied to our Senate Committee. She has no business leading @BLMNational. @POTUS must withdraw her nomination & if he does not, the Senate must vote it down.”
This letter from the Forest Service lead investigator confirms Tracy Stone-Manning lied to our Senate Committee. She has no business leading @BLMNational. @POTUS must withdraw her nomination & if he does not, the Senate must vote it down. https://t.co/yKtpx8hu1w
— Sen. John Barrasso (@SenJohnBarrasso) July 15, 2021
The controversy surrounds Stone-Manning’s involvement in a controversial environmental organization called Earth First!
“Earth First! is a self-described ‘radical environmental movement,’ though it operates as a group with a symbol, publication, and the motto ‘no compromise in defense of mother earth,'” Breitbart noted.
Stone-Manning worked with this organization while she attended the University of Montana in Missoula, the outlet reported. During that time, she was involved in an illegal tree spiking case.
Tree spiking is a form of protest radical activists use to fight against deforestation. It involves inserting metal spikes into trees to prevent workers from cutting them down and harvesting them.
“In 1989, Stone-Manning mailed a letter to the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of John P. Blount, an individual in her ‘circle of friends,’ crudely warning federal authorities that trees in Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest that were scheduled to be cut down had been sabotaged with metal spikes to prevent them from being harvested,” Breitbart’s Ashley Oliver and Rebecca Mansour reported.
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