Gop Donor Gets 400 Million Dollar Wall Contract Army Corp of Engineers Was Agains It
Politics | Pentagon Investigator to Examine Edge Wall Contract Awarded to G.O.P. Donor
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/usa/politics/trump-border-wall-investigation.html
Pentagon Investigator to Examine Edge Wall Contract Awarded to G.O.P. Donor
The Defense force Department's inspector general will look at a $400 million contract awarded to a North Dakota company embraced by President Trump.
WASHINGTON — The Role of Inspector Full general for the Section of Defense force will investigate a $400 million contract for border wall construction awarded to a N Dakota company subsequently President Trump privately pushed the bargain.
The chairman of the House Homeland Security committee, Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, called for the inquiry into the decision fabricated by the United States Ground forces Corps of Engineers final week, raising concerns of "inappropriate influence." Mr. Thompson wrote in a letter that Fisher Sand & Gravel "did non meet the operational requirements of U.Due south. Customs and Border Protection and its prototype project came in belatedly and over upkeep."
Glenn Fine, the main deputy inspector general for the Department of Defence, wrote a alphabetic character to Mr. Thompson on Thursday maxim the watchdog would investigate the contract for Arizona wall construction to encounter if it met solicitation standards.
"In response to your request, nosotros have decided to initiate an audit of the solicitation and laurels of this contract," Mr. Fine said in the letter to Mr. Thompson. "Nosotros are assessing the methodology of that audit and will formally denote the audit before long."
The Defense Section's internal watchdog announced this week it would also broadly examine the military's activities at the southern border.
The Northward Dakota investigation is the latest setback for Mr. Trump's border wall. Earlier this week, a federal judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction preventing the Trump administration from using $3.six billion in armed forces construction funds, secured through a national emergency declaration, to cock a wall along the southern border, ruling that the declaration was unlawful. A judge also blocked a private group from edifice its ain wall.
The North Dakota company had never been awarded a construction contract earlier, Mr. Thompson said in a statement. "Given the president's multiple endorsements of this company and the corporeality of taxpayer money at stake, I remain concerned about the possibility of inappropriate influence on the Army Corps' contracting determination," he said.
Mr. Trump had lobbied the Army Corps of Engineers to choose the Northward Dakota company, despite opposition from armed forces officials who raised concerns about the visitor's standards, according to 1 current and ane onetime administration official. The visitor's chief executive, Tommy Fisher, has repeatedly gone on Pull a fast one on News to cheer for the border wall, a public appeal on the president'due south favorite news channel that has helped others win senior positions in the Section of Homeland Security.
The Washington Post also reported this summertime that Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota and an early endorser of Mr. Trump'due south presidential campaign, held up the confirmation of a White House official as he attempted to steer contracts to Fisher.
Senator Cramer, who received a $10,000 campaign donation from Mr. Fisher and invited him to Mr. Trump'southward State of the Matrimony accost last year, issued a congratulatory statement to the media terminal week when the contract was awarded to the North Dakota company.
The activist grouping, "We Build The Wall," has also publicly campaigned for Fisher Sand & Gravel and hired the visitor to construct barriers in El Paso using private donations. Stephen Thousand. Bannon, Mr. Trump's former main strategist, sits on an advisory board for the group. Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state who has privately advised Mr. Trump on immigration matters, is its general counsel.
Mr. Trump then far has built about 86 miles of border wall in places where there were previously damaged barriers or vehicle barriers. The administration only last month started building wall in an area where at that place previously were no barriers.
Eric Schmitt and Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/us/politics/trump-border-wall-investigation.html
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