Trump nominee withdraws after her criticism of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack surfaces

Kathleen Sgamma, President, Western Energy Alliance, speaks during a House Committee on Natural Resources hearing on America's Energy and Mineral potential, Feb. 8, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land has withdrawn her nomination following revelations that she criticized the Republican president in 2021 for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The withdrawal of Kathleen Sgamma to lead the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management was announced Thursday at the start of Sgamma’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The former interior secretary under Trump, David Bernhardt, said her withdrawal was “self-inflicted,” and included a link to a website that posted her 2021 comments. Bernhardt suggested that people whose views don’t align with Trump’s should not seek political appointments.

“I am disgusted by the violence witnessed yesterday and President Trump’s role in spreading misinformation that incited it,” Sgamma said in the comments earlier reported by Documented, which describes itself as a watchdog journalism project.

The Associated Press left a telephone message with Sgamma seeking comment.

The longtime oil and gas industry representative had appeared well-poised to carry out Trump’s plans to roll back restrictions on energy development, including in Western states where the land bureau has vast holdings. The agency also oversees mining, grazing and recreation.

Sgamma’s withdrawal underscored the Trump administration’s creation of a “loyalty test” to weed out subordinates who are out of step with him, said Aaron Weiss with the left-leaving Center for Western Priorities.

The Bureau of Land Management had about 10,000 employees at the start of Trump’s second term. It went four years without a confirmed director during his first term. Trump also moved the agency’s headquarters to Colorado before it was returned to Washington, D.C., under former U.S. president Joe Biden.

Matthew Brown And Matthew Daly, The Associated Press