User:TiairaHope/sandbox

Political ties
According to his federal disclosure forms, filed in May 2016, President Donald Trump held between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock in Energy Transfer Partners &#x2013; down from $500,000 to $1 million in 2015 &#x2013; and between $100,000 and $250,000 in Phillips 66. This creates a conflict of interest when making presidential decisions affecting the pipeline project. The senior Democrat on the Public Resources Committee, Raul Grijalva, called this appearance of conflict of interest "disturbing". The Washington Post reported that Trump sold off his shares in Energy Transfer Partners in the summer of 2016.

Trump is also indirectly linked to the project because Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren contributed $103,000 to the Trump campaign. Trump has said that he supports the completion of the pipeline project. According to his transition team this position "has nothing to do with his personal investments and everything to do with promoting policies that benefit all Americans." Overturning the December decision of further evaluation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was deemed a top priority in the January 24, 2017 executive order that was issued and signed by President Trump just four days after having been inaugurated. Prior to being elected as president, Trump was said to have sold any shares he had that demonstrated a personal interest in further construction of the pipeline. The credibility of this claim has been questioned as a result of some of the funds allocated to Trump’s campaign trail by members whom also possess stock in various shares of the pipeline.

A former staffer of Iowa Governor Terry Branstad re-election campaign, Susan Fenton, who is now the director of government affairs with the Des Moines public relations firm LS2, is handling public relations for Energy Transfer. Texas governor Rick Perry was member of the Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners boards of directors but resigned after Trump selected Perry as his nomination for Energy Secretary In December 2016. Kelcy Warren had contributed $6 million to Perry's 2016 Presidential campaign.