The lead investigator in the eco-terrorist plot surrounding President Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) says she lied before congress. Tracy Stone-Manning testified before the Senate that she played little-to-no role in an eco-terrorist tree-spiking plot but lead Forest Service investigator Michael Merkley wrote in a letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that is completely false.
Fox News reports:
“Contrary to many stories in the news, Ms. Stone-Manning was not an innocent bystander, nor was she a victim in this case,” Merkley wrote. “And, she most certainly was not a hero. Ms. Stone-Manning was not only a member of Earth First!, but she played an active role in the Earth First! hierarchy.”
“She was vulgar, antagonistic and extremely anti-government. She was very uncooperative and refused to provide the hair, hand writing exemplars, and fingerprints as ordered by the federal grand jury,” Merkley said. “It was not until after we informed her that she would be arrested if she did not comply with the subpoena that she reluctantly provided those samples to me. However, she refused to answer any of my other questions.”
Merkley said he eventually learned later in the investigation that Stone-Manning knew all along “who had perpetrated the crimes in the Clearwater National Forest” and said she only came forward in 1993 to give up her co-conspirators in the tree-spiking case “after her attorney struck the immunity deal, and not before she was caught.” He continued, “At no time did she come forward of her own volition, and she was never entirely forthcoming.”
Merkley concluded the letter by talking about his experience investigating Earth First! and said it led him to retire early in 1997 because he started receiving death threats from the ecoterrorist organization and he was “made aware that they had solicited a contract to kill me and harm my family.” He said he is still “concerned” what the group could do to him and his family.
Despite Merkley’s letter the White House is still supporting Stone-Manning’s nomination to lead BLM. Republican lawmakers have called on Biden the rescind the nomination over her active role in the eco-terrorist plot.
