Joe Manchin still silent on Biden nominee with ties to eco-terrorism

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Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.V., continues to remain silent on President Biden’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) as the president faces calls to withdraw her nomination over her eco-terrorism ties.

Manchin has yet to say a word on whether he supports Tracy Stone-Manning, Biden’s nominee to lead BLM that has come under major scrutiny in recent weeks.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman’s ranking member counterpart on the committee John Barrasso, R-Wyo., has repeatedly called for the president to withdraw Stone-Manning’s nomination.

Additionally, a group of House GOP lawmakers led by Rep. Yvette Herrell of New Mexico sent Manchin a letter on Monday encouraging the senator to oppose Stone-Manning’s nomination.

MANCHIN PRESSURED TO OPPOSE BIDEN BLM NOMINEE LINKED TO ECO-TERRORIST PLOT

However, Manchin has remained silent in his position on Stone-Manning, with his office not responding to Fox News’ questions on Friday on whether he agrees with Barrasso’s calls to pull Stone-Manning from the nomination or supports Biden’s BLM pick.

Stone-Manning has come under fire over allegations that she misled senators about her links to the eco-terrorist plot. She has also faced scrutiny for urging population control to protect the environment in her graduate thesis.

Biden’s BLM pick was granted immunity in exchange for testifying that she retyped and sent an anonymous letter to the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of John P. Blount, her former roommate and friend.

The letter told the Forest Service that 500 pounds of "spikes measuring 8 to 10 inches in length" had been jammed into the trees of an Idaho forest. Tree-spiking is a dangerous eco-terrorist tactic that has severely injured people, such as a mill worker whose jaw was split in two from an exploding saw.

BIDEN NOMINEE FOR LAND AGENCY TOUTED HUSBAND’S SUGGESTION TO LET HOUSES CAUGHT IN FOREST FIRES ‘BURN’

It was also revealed that Stone-Manning once touted her husband’s suggestion from a 2018 article to let houses caught in forest fires "burn." 

"Perhaps the feds should commit themselves to refusing to send in the troops to any county that has not taken such measures," Stone-Manning’s husband Richard Manning wrote. "Perhaps the solution to houses in the interface is to let them burn."

The president's nominee to lead BLM, one of the agencies charged with fighting fires on federal land, shared her husband's article and called it a "Clarion call."

"Tracy Stone-Manning fully endorsed her husband’s call to action that homes in the forest should be allowed to burn. He even called it a ‘satisfying justice.’ That’s dangerous and disturbing," Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member John Barrasso, R-Wyo., told Fox News on Friday.

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"After collaborating with eco-terrorists, lying to the Senate, and tweeting her extreme ideas, how can anyone believe she should be in charge of almost 65 million acres of federal forests?" he continued.

A White House official told Fox News last month that the administration is standing behind her nomination.

"Tracy Stone-Manning is a dedicated public servant who has years of experience and a proven track record of finding solutions and common ground when it comes to our public lands and waters," the official said. "She is exceptionally qualified to be the next Director of the Bureau of Land Management."

Houston Keene is a reporter for Fox News Digital. You can find him on Twitter at @HoustonKeene