The Trump administration has likened the need to build out the nation’s artificial intelligence infrastructure to the Manhattan Project, the World War II effort that produced the world’s first atomic bomb.
asserted
that → liken → bomb
The White House’s point person on the effort, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, has spoken of the “AI arms race” with China as an existential issue for the nation.
asserted
person → speak → nation
“AI is manufacturing intelligence, and, if we don’t manufacture more intelligence than our adversaries, it affects every job, every company and every industry,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing in January 2025.
asserted
he → manufacture → January
But advancing the administration’s AI objectives also could benefit Burgum’s own finances.
uncertain
advancing → advance → finances
Much of his wealth is held in Arthur Ventures, an investment firm he co-founded, according to his 2026 financial disclosure form, which has not been previously reported.
uncertain
which → hold → form
Between $18.1 million and $64.4 million of those investments are in AI companies, according to an analysis of the companies’ marketing materials shared with ProPublica by public lands advocacy group Save Our Parks.
uncertain
million → accord → Parks
(Government financial disclosure forms allow filers to report wide ranges instead of the specific value of their investments.)
asserted
filers → allow → investments
Burgum made his fortune 25 years ago when he sold a software company to Microsoft and has remained heavily invested in technology.
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he → make → technology
In the year before joining the administration, when he was North Dakota’s governor, he made between $2.1 million and $11 million in capital gains from AI-related investments, Save Our Parks’ analysis showed.
asserted
analysis → join → investments
In 2025, he sold millions of dollars of stocks and equity in AI companies, bringing in capital gains worth between $2.5 million and $15.1 million.
asserted
he → sell → gains
In the ethics agreement Burgum signed as part of his Senate confirmation, he agreed to resign from his positions at Arthur but not give up his financial interests there.
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he → sign → interests
“Secretary Burgum has met his federal ethics and financial disclosure obligations,” a U.S. Department of the Interior spokesperson told ProPublica in a statement.
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spokesperson → meet → statement
“Any suggestion that his office decisions are driven by personal investments are false and completely unsupported.”
asserted
decisions → drive → investments
Officials across the Trump administration also stand to profit from the White House’s support for AI and data centers.
asserted
Officials → stand → AI
For example, 380 of President Donald Trump’s political appointees or their spouses hold stocks or have other financial connections to Nvidia, which has become the world’s most valuable company thanks to the data center boom.
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which → hold → boom
More than 320 have ties to Alphabet, Google’s parent company, which plans to spend at least $195 billion this year building data centers and AI-related technology.
asserted
which → have → centers
And more than 240 are invested in or otherwise have financial ties to Meta Platforms, which is developing a “fleet” of data centers.
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which → invest → centers
This is according to an analysis of records added last week to the Trump Team Financials database developed by ProPublica to make accessible the financial disclosures of administration officials.
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disclosures → accord → officials
Federal officials’ activities are governed by a criminal statute that sets a high burden of proof for potential wrongdoing — for example, approving permits for a company in which they are substantially invested, multiple ethics professors and lawyers told ProPublica.
asserted
professors → govern → ProPublica
They said that Burgum’s investments appear to be acceptable under this law.
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investments → say → law
But ethics rules that do not carry criminal penalties also apply, explained Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog group.
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Brown → carry → Washington
These rules, she said, “instruct officials not to work on anything that would create the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
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that → say → interest
She said this would include Burgum’s support for data centers on federal land while holding investments in AI.
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this → say → AI
Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota and President George W. Bush’s chief ethics lawyer, agreed that Burgum should avoid making decisions benefiting an industry in which he is heavily invested.
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he → agree → which
“I, as the ethics lawyer, would insist he stay away from it,” Painter said.
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Painter → insist → it
“In the Bush administration, the answer would’ve been ‘he has to recuse,’ I can guarantee you that.”
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I → have → that
A review of recent Interior Department secretaries’ financial holdings suggests it’s common to have some potential conflicts, but Trump’s appointees are more heavily invested in the industries they oversee than their predecessors.
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they → suggest → predecessors
Deb Haaland, President Joe Biden’s appointee, held no direct financial investments in companies the department regulated.
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department → hold → companies
President Barack Obama’s first appointee, Ken Salazar, listed ownership of his family’s ranch but few other investments.
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appointee → list → ranch
Obama’s second appointee, Sally Jewell, held stocks in oil and gas, which she agreed to divest as a condition of her confirmation.
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she → hold → confirmation
Ryan Zinke and David Bernhardt served as Interior Department secretaries during Trump’s first term.
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Zinke → serve → term
The former was found by the agency’s Office of Inspector General to have improperly assisted a development in his hometown, while the latter had so many potential conflicts that he reportedly carried a card listing them.
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he → find → them
(Zinke said the OIG investigation was a political attack, while Bernhardt recused himself from several decisions in which there would have been clear conflicts.
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Bernhardt → say → which
More recently, as the effort to build data centers has run headlong into broad public opposition, the current administration has offered federally managed public lands to them.
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administration → build → them
Unlike local or state processes, where concerns about water use, power consumption and the lack of transparency around permitting have slowed or halted projects, the public has less ability to stop them on federal property.
asserted
public → slow → property
The Interior Department oversees most of this land.
asserted
Department → oversee → land
A little-noticed U.S. Geological Survey report released earlier this year found at least 91.3 million acres of public lands managed by the Interior Department — an area comparable to Montana — could potentially host data centers.
uncertain
acres → notice → centers
The department’s mandate includes overseeing tribal affairs, managing national parks, regulating extractive industries like coal and operating dams across the West.
asserted
mandate → include → West
Burgum, though, is spending significant time on other things.
asserted
Burgum → spend → things
This includes meeting with representatives of companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet more than 20 times from January through November 2025, according to a compilation of his schedules shared with ProPublica by public interest watchdog group Public Citizen.
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This → include → Citizen
…and 48 more, not listed.
The Aporia
