Finance
‘No quid pro quo’ between Trump and oil execs, says Governor Burgum
Kathryn Burgum cheers as her husband, Republican North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, shakes hands with former U.S. President and 2024 presidential hopeful Donald Trump during a Caucus Night Watch party in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 8, 2024 .
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Doug Burgum, a governor of North Dakota — a potential pick to become former President Donald Trump’s running mate — denies claims that the former president told oil executives he would cut regulations if elected in exchange for help with raising money to return to the White House
According to the Washington Post, Trump said some of the country’s top oil executives during a meeting with them earlier this year at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, that he would roll back dozens of environmental regulations and policies put in place by the Biden administration and prevent new ones from being implemented. That is, if they raised $1 billion to re-elect him.
That donation would make it a “deal” as they would avoid taxes and regulations thanks to him, he said. Trump also reportedly told executives he would auction off more oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I was at that meeting — that didn’t happen,” Burgum said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “He didn’t ask for a billion dollars in donations, and there was no quid pro quo.”
Burgum also denied that Trump targeted the oil industry to finance his re-election. He said he is “not targeting anyone” and is “doing what candidates do” by listening to an industry that is “fundamental to the entire economy.”
In January, Burgum endorsed Trump for president. He ended his bid to become the Republican nominee a month early, in December 2023, after launching his campaign in June that year, and has since become an adviser to Trump on energy policy.
Burgum’s family leases 500 acres of farmland in Williams County, North Dakota, to Continental Resources — the state’s largest oil and gas developer — for oil and gas extraction.
Although his financial disclosures show he has earned up to $50,000 in royalties from the Continental deal as of late 2022, experts told CNBC he and his family business have likely earned thousands more since signing with the company in 2009.
Asked whether his affiliation with the energy industry alienates young voters who say climate and environmental policies are important to them, Burgum is “not concerned about that at all,” he said.
Burgum, who is also a software entrepreneur, announced earlier this year that he will not seek a third term as governor. His second term ends on December 14.
