One of president Donald Trump's nominees has been stressing out his staffers with his peculiar and highly specific requests.
Interior secretary Doug Burgum has placed unusual demands on his employees, four sources familiar with his leadership told The Atlantic, and his chief of staff JoDee Hanson reflected his idiosyncratic preferences by directing political appointees in his office to regularly bake chocolate chip cookies for the boss and his guests using industrial ovens at department headquarters.
"Some of the concerns have been elevated to senior White House officials, according to the sources," the magazine reported. "One person familiar with the behavior described Burgum as 'Doug the diva.' Three people said the concerns have been widely discussed among lower-level staff at the Department of Interior. Two people said political appointees in Burgum’s office have been seen crying because of the demands placed on them."
At least once, a political appointee was told to make the cookies again because their batch was subpar three sources said, and four sources claim office leadership once instructed political appointees to act as servers for a multicourse meal and dispatched a U.S. Park Police helicopter for Burgum's personal transportation – all of which Trump administration officials vehemently denied.
“These pathetic smears are from unnamed cowards who don’t know Doug Burgum and are trying to stop President Trump’s Energy Dominance agenda,” said interior spokesperson Katie Martin. “Everyone knows secretary Burgum always leads with gratitude and is humbly working with president Trump.”
ALSO READ:'Not much I can do': GOP senator gives up fight against Trump's tariffs
Two department officials speaking on the condition of anonymity told The Atlantic the cookies were made from premade dough bought from a store and then served to guests and staff as a show of hospitality, and they claimed the helicopter was arranged by his security detail.
“He’s not demanding cookies, he’s not demanding a helicopter,” an Interior Department official said. “It is antithetical to diva behavior.”
His chief of staff has told federal workers that the tradition of staffers baking cookies began when Burgum was governor of North Dakota, according to two sources, and a White House spokesperson waved off concerns about the issue when asked to comment.
“Only The Atlantic could spin baking warm cookies for guests as a bad thing. Cold-hearted people!” said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly. “Secretary Burgum is doing an outstanding job leading the Department of Interior.”
Interior officials also defended two other highly precise demands he makes on staffers, such as removing labels from water bottles, supposedly to avoid branding issues for social media photos, and stacking firewood in his office's fireplace.
"At times, he has instructed his staff on the finer points of arranging logs so they won’t collapse and create noise when burning during meetings," The Atlantic reported. "An Interior Department official said many people in the department—from Burgum himself to the most junior staff — have helped make fires, and that if Burgum ever offered tips, it was not intended imperiously. Burgum, who worked as a chimney sweep in college, was likely just trying to be helpful."