Mitch McConnell presses Biden to withdraw Land Management nominee with history of eco-terrorism

The leader of the Senate Republicans is calling for President Joe Biden to withdraw his nomination for Bureau of Land Management leader Tracy Stone-Manning. In a scoop by Fox News, the publication learned that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is adding his voice in the calls to revoke the nomination over claims of eco-terrorism being relevant to her questionable honesty before a Senate committee earlier this year.

McConnell made it as direct as possible in his statement to the outlet:

"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. The White House should immediately withdraw her nomination."

McConnell's statement echoes what has been expressed by all ten sitting GOP members on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. In a letter from Wednesday, they called on Biden to withdraw his nomination.

As reported yesterday, the history of Biden's pick for Land Management leader having a history involving eco-terrorism came to the public’s attention. This breakthrough was due to a letter sent by a retired USDA Forest Service investigator, Michael Merkley.  In a four-page letter to the Senate Energy Committee he testified to exclusive details regarding a tree spiking investigation in 1989. Michael was the lead on it and saw everything.

After receiving an anonymous letter regarding the sabotage of trees in Idaho's Clearwater National Forest,  Merkley went to the area and confirmed the damages to government property that took place.

What's relevant to today is that Biden nominee told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee "in writing in May that she has never been the target of a federal criminal investigation," according to Daily Caller, which means Merkley's letter establishes Stone-Manning lied to members of Congress.

As he states in his letter:

"Throughout this initial investigation in 1989, Ms. Stone-Manning was extremely difficult to work with; in fact, she was the nastiest of the suspects. She was vulgar, antagonistic, and extremely anti-government. She was very uncooperative and refused to provide the hair, hand writing exemplars, and fingerprints as ordered by the federal grand jury. It was not until after we informed her that she would be arrested if she did not comply with the subpoena that she reluctantly provided those samples to me. However, she refused to answer any of my other questions. Eventually, after further investigation, I discovered that she had known all along who had perpetrated the crimes in the Clearwater National Forest."

While Merkley urged Washington that confirming Stone-Manning would be a mistake, the White House believes "she is exceptionally qualified to be the next Director of the Bureau of Land Management."