Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), organized a meeting in Washington on Wednesday with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Leaders. | AP Photo Trump team reaches out to Native Americans

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is working behind the scenes to make inroads with Native American tribes.

Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), the chairman of Trump’s Native American Coalition, organized a meeting in Washington on Wednesday with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Leaders.


Several members of the Trump transition team attended the meeting, according to a person present. Among them: Doug Domenech, a former George W. Bush Interior Department official who is focused on Interior for the transition; Eric Ueland, a long-time congressional staffer who is a leading transition policy aide; and Ado Machida, a top domestic policy aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, another top transition policy staffer. Rep. Tom Cole, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, also attended.

People who attended the meeting said it included nearly 200 people (those who couldn't fit watched from an overflow room), including tribal leaders, lobbyists and consultants. Topics ranged from preserving Native American sovereignty, energy development, protecting water rights and the ongoing fight over the Dakota Access pipeline, which has faced fierce resistance from tribal nations. Each tribal leader was given time to outline their policy concerns and recommendations.

New Mexico state Rep. Sharon Clahchischilliage, a member of Trump’s Native American Coalition who attended the meeting, said it helped “dispel a lot of the rumors that were circulating” regarding how Trump might approach Native American relations. Clahchischilliage said there were rumors in some circles that Trump was skeptical about Native American sovereignty or might get rid of the Indian Health Service, the federal agency that provides health care to Native American people.

The meeting came the day before Trump formally announced his intention to tap first-term Montana Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke to lead the Interior Department. Zinke made it clear that he will prioritize Native American tribes. “Most important, our sovereign Indian Nations and territories must have the respect and freedom they deserve,” he said on Thursday in a statement about his pending nomination.

The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment on this story.