Democratic Staffer Booted From Congressional Trip For ‘Malicious Behavior’

A House Democratic staffer was summarily kicked out of a congressional trip to Nevada after he “harassed and bullied” a Department of Interior employee.

The Bureau of Land Management is currently hosting a week-long trip in Nevada for members of the House Appropriations Committee. The purpose of the trip is to give committee staffers a tour of the lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and “the opportunity to better understand the programs it oversees,” according to an Interior employee who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

However, one Democratic staffer was forced to leave on the first day after aggressively berating another individual. Peter Kiefhaber, who works within the Appropriations Committee, did not appear to recognize the BLM acting chief of staff during a Monday meeting in Reno. Because he did not know who she was, Kiefhaber believed she did not belong in the meeting and demanded that she be removed.

Kiefhaber’s insistence that the woman be removed escalated to the point where he then became aggressive — according to staffers who were aware of the incident — and the altercation prompted career BLM officials to file a complaint.

“Today, the Department of the Interior removed a member of the House Appropriations Committee staff from an official trip to Nevada,” read an Interior statement provided to TheDCNF on Monday. “Unfortunately, before this morning’s meetings commenced, one staffer, Mr. Peter Kiefhaber, verbally harassed and bullied a BLM staffer regarding their participation in the meetings, creating a hostile work environment.”

Getting booted from the trip may not be the only punishment for Kiefhaber. The Interior Department says it will ask the House Ethics office to review what happened.

“The Department works to ensure that the appropriate subject matter experts are available to members of Congress and their staff during their visits to our facilities,” the statement continued. “However, we will not tolerate our staff being subjected to this type of malicious behavior. The appropriate members of Congress and senior staff have been notified of Mr. Kiefhaber’s actions, and we intend to request the House Ethics Office look into this incident.”

Kiefhaber currently works for the House Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, which is a subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee. Minnesota Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum serves as the subcommittee’s chairwoman. A request for comment was not immediately returned by McCollum’s office.

The Interior has called on McCollum to “promptly apologize and denounce the harassment displayed by her staff.”