Ahead of Interior Secretary David Bernhardts Senate confirmation hearing in March 2019, political appointees blocked the public release of documents about the nominee, the agencys internal watchdog concluded.

The finding, detailed in a seven-page report due out Tuesday, comes approximately a year after Interiors Office of Inspector General began investigating the departments controversial Freedom of Information Act policy, which gives political appointees the ability to review public information requests prior to their release, and in some cases withhold material altogether.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Ral M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who last year made separate requests for the inspector general to expand the probe into Interiors so-called awareness review policy, slammed the department in a joint statement Tuesday.

They accused Trump administration officials of having orchestrated a coverup to protect Secretary Bernhardt during his confirmation and renewed a demand that the Department of Justice open a criminal investigation into whether Daniel Jorjani, the Interior Department solicitor, perjured himself when questioned about the FOIA policy during his May confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Not since the Teapot Dome scandal have we seen a more corrupt Interior Department, said Wyden and Grijalva, referring to an early 1920s scandal involving secret oil leases in Wyoming. Political appointees at the agency have put their ideologically-based personal interests over the interests of the American people, violating the public trust upon which the Department of the Interior is based.