The donor, a man named Mike Ingram, is already the subject of a criminal referral to the Department of Justice by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Committee on Natural Resources, which Porter chairs. In that case, Ingram made his only other $10,000 donation in the 2017-2018 non-presidential election cycle. Ingram made that donation to the Trump Victory Fund just before a major federal action was made in his favor. All other donations from Ingram during that cycle were $5,400 or less.

Now, in a December 2, 2022 letter to Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, Porter is asking for information on another $10,000 donation Ingram made to a Trump fund in the same non-presidential cycle, in this case, America First Action, Inc. Super PAC. This time, Ingram was advocating for two brothers, Dwight and Steven Hammond, convicted of arson on federal lands, apparently to cover up for having illegally slaughtered deer on BLM land. Ingram made the donation on July 2, 2018. The brothers received full pardons on July 10, 2018.

Yeah, totally normal – if you’re a corrupt crony of the corrupt Donald Trump.

I’m not sure if Porter will be able to complete her investigation by the time Republicans take over Congress or what she can do once that happens. But I’m sure we’ll hear more about this one way or the other.