Katherine Burgum applauds as her husband, Republican Governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, shakes hands with former US President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump during a night watch party in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 8, 2024.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a potential running mate for former President Donald Trump, is denying allegations that the former president told oil company executives he would cut regulations if elected in exchange for help raising money to return to the White House. .
According to The Washington Post, Trump told a few of the country's top oil executives in a meeting with them earlier this year at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, that he would reverse dozens of environmental rules and policies that the Biden administration had put in place. New and prevented from being implemented. That is if they raise a billion dollars to re-elect him.
He said this donation would make it a “bargain” since they would avoid taxes and regulation because of it. Trump reportedly told executives that he would auction off more oil drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I was at that meeting, but it didn't happen,” Burgum said on CBS' “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “He did not ask for a billion dollars in donations, and there was no quid pro quo.”
Burgum also denied that Trump was targeting the oil industry to fund his re-election, saying he was “not targeting anyone” and “doing what candidates do” by going and listening to an industry that is “essential to the entire economy.”
In January, Burgum endorsed Trump's candidacy for president. He ended his bid to become the Republican Party's nominee a month early in December 2023 after launching his campaign in June of that year, and has since become an adviser to Trump on energy policy.
The Burgum family leases 200 acres of farmland in Williams County, North Dakota, to Continental Resources — that state's largest oil and gas lessee — to pump oil and gas.
While his financial disclosure reveals he has earned up to $50,000 in revenue since late 2022 from the deal with Continental, experts told CNBC that he and his family business have likely made thousands more since signing a contract with the company in 2009.
Asked whether his alliance with the energy industry alienates young voters who say climate and environmental policy are important to them, Burgum said, “I'm not worried about that at all.”
Burgum, who is also a software entrepreneur, announced earlier this year that he would not seek a third term as governor. His second term is scheduled to end on December 14.
