Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland was seen in tears as she introduced President Joe Biden at his final Tribal Nations Summit on Monday, as she presented him with a blanket.
Biden and officials from his administration attended the White House’s Tribal Nations Summit, giving tribal leaders the “opportunity to have meaningful conversations directly” with Biden and his staff. During her introduction of the president, Haaland paused for a moment, appearing emotional as she reflected on Biden’s term before handing him the blanket.
“So if you’ll bear with us for a moment before the president gives his remarks, Assistant Secretary [Bryan] Newland and I wanted to acknowledge the wonderful leadership by President Biden,” Haaland said. “He has been a champion for Indian country over these past four years, and I felt the best way for us to acknowledge that was with a blanket.”
WATCH:
Throughout the year, Haaland has faced criticism for her responses during congressional hearings, notably struggling to answer basic questions about an Idaho major wind farm development.
In May, Republican Idaho Sen. Jim Risch questioned Haaland about the names of people or groups supporting a major wind project called Lava Ridge. While Haaland suggested there was local support for the project, she was unable to name an entity or individual backing it.
The Department of the Interior (DOI) also came under fire in October after the agency directed the public to a radical activist group’s website that supports terrorist sympathizers and condones violence against the United States and Israel. Republican lawmakers expressed their outrage to Haaland following the revelation, with Republican Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso telling the Daily Caller News Foundation he had “pressed Secretary Haaland to protect our federal lands and assets from terrorist sympathizers here at home, but instead her department is promoting them.”
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