MILWAUKEE — Serving as North Dakota governor under former President Donald Trump was like having “a beautiful breeze at our back,” Doug Burgum said Wednesday, July 17, at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

The GOP governor, who was considered a top contender to be Trump’s vice president, contrasted that to President Joe Biden, saying being governor during the Democrat’s administration was like “a gale force wind in our face.”

“Biden’s war on energy hurts every American because the cost of energy is in everything that we use or touch every day,” Burgum said.

The governor took to the stage Wednesday night at the Fiserv Forum during the third day of the RNC. The governor from the second top-producing oil state in the U.S. criticized Biden’s policies on energy, claiming they have raised the price of gas, food, clothes and rent.

“Biden’s green agenda feels like it was written by China, Russia and Iran,” Burgum said.

Burgum was passed up on Monday as Trump’s vice president pick for U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, though there is speculation the North Dakotan could be a part of Trump’s administration.

The governor has spent time campaigning for Trump and looks to continue that. Burgum praised Trump as a friend of energy and a champion of innovation over regulation.

“Unleashing American energy dominance is our path back to prosperity and peace through strength,” Burgum said. “Teddy Roosevelt encouraged America to speak softly and carry a big stick. Energy dominance will be the big stick that President Trump will carry.”

Burgum joked that the last time he was in Milwaukee, he had to stand on one leg behind a podium for the first Republican presidential debate for the 2024 election. The night before the August debate, which was also held in the Fiserv, Burgum tore his Achilles tendon during a pickup basketball game, sending him to the emergency room and putting him in a walking boot.

During the speech, he asked who would make America energy dominant, to which the crowd yelled twice, “Trump!”

On the third time, he asked the crowd to yell it loud enough to wake Biden up, an insult playing into reports that the Democrat is a 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. president and is in cognitive decline. The crowd replied “Trump” loudly.

“When Trump unleashes American energy, we unleash American prosperity and we ensure our national security,” Burgum said

Burgum, who is from the small town of Arthur, North Dakota, also said rural America and small towns feed, fuel and defend the world.

“Rural America is Trump country,” Burgum said.

In a statement issued after the speech, North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party Chair Adam Goldwyn called Burgum “a billionaire cosplaying as a cowboy with an undirected Carhartt.”

“Burgum signed one of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country, and that is wreaking havoc on North Dakotan women,” Goldwyn said. “After supporting bills to promote equality in North Dakota, he threw LGBTQ folks under the bus when he signed laws that discriminate against them. Will Burgum finally return to North Dakota now, or will he continue to neglect his gubernatorial duties? Either way his time in the national spotlight is over and he is no longer a ‘top priority.’”

Trump secured the Republican nomination for president. He is expected to face Biden in the general election.

MINOT — Sandi Sanford, chair of the North Dakota Republican Party, joined this episode of Plain Talk from the GOP’s national convention in Milwaukee, where, she said, “the security plan changed drastically” after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Republicans have been focused on unity at this event — two of Trump’s top rivals during the primaries, Gov. Ron DeSantis and former ambassador Nikki Haley, endorsed him in speeches at the convention — but Sanford acknowledged to my co-host Chad Oban and me that this may be a heavy lift.

“People know that what we’re dealing with in North Dakota with the different factions,” she said, initially calling the populist wing of the party the “far right” before correcting herself and describing them as “grassroots.”

The NDGOP delegation to the national convention

wasn’t necessarily behind Gov. Doug Burgum potentially being Trump’s running mate

(Burgum himself was passed over for a delegate slot by the NDGOP’s state convention), but Sanford said she felt the delegates were “really confident in Donald Trump and his pick.”

“It gets dicey,” she said of intraparty politics. “It can get cruel,” but Sanford said her job is to keep the factions united. “I’m bringing people together.”

Sanford also addressed a visit to the North Dakota delegation from Matt Schlapp of the American Conservative Union (the organization which puts on the Conservative Political Action Conference). In March, Schlapp paid

a nearly half-million settlement

to a man he allegedly made unwanted sexual advances toward. “My delegation wanted to hear from CPAC,” she said, adding that Schlapp was “on a speaking circle” addressing several state delegations.

Also on this episode, we discuss how the assassination attempt on Trump might impact the rest of this presidential election cycle and whether Democrats will replace incumbent President Joe Biden.

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BY: JEFF BEACH

KILLDEER, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – A North Dakota investor says the purchase of a financially-troubled meat company is progressing with a percentage of the profits being used to pay back investors in the alleged Ponzi scheme over several years. 

Wylie Bice of Killdeer, who is among those who lost money by investing in Texas-based Agridime, told the North Dakota Monitor that a price has been agreed upon to buy the company. 

“Our offer is reasonable,” Bice said. 

But several steps remain before the deal can close. 

The court-appointed official overseeing the company said in a July 8 update on Agridime.com that federal law requires three separate appraisals for each parcel of property being sold, “which is not a quick process.”

The update did not say a deal has been reached, but when it is, it would be submitted to the court for a 30-day review and objection period before it can close. 

Bice said the final agreement would likely include a percentage of the profits of the company be used to pay back investors over a designated period of years. 

“There’s always a chance they might get more than they had invested if things go really good,” Bice said. 

Investors in several states, including a high-concentration in North Dakota, lost millions of dollars by investing in Agridime. Agridime bought cattle, had them brought up to market weight at feedlots and processed in retail cuts of meat. The company then direct-marketed the beef through its website. 

It also sold investments in calves, promising as much as a 30% return on investment without having to do the work of ranching. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission in December accused the company of operating as a Ponzi scheme by taking money from new investors to pay off previous investors instead of investing that money into cattle. 

The North Dakota Securities Department said a Killdeer-based sales agent, Taylor Bang, earned $6 million in commissions from illegal cattle investment contracts through Agridime. 

Bang told the North Dakota Monitor in December that the figure was “way high.” 

While it is under investigation, a slimmed-down version of the company has continued to operate as American Grazed Beef. 

Bice said that if the deal is approved, he and his partners would likely keep the American Grazed Beef name. 

The investments in calves, however, would not be a part of the business plan. 

“No, I don’t think they’ll fall for that twice,” Bice said. 

Bice, Bang, and other North Dakota investors lost an estimated $40 million in the Agridime scheme. 

Overall, investors in at least 15 states are out an estimated $191 million. 

The July 8 update also says investors should be notified by the end of the month with a calculation of what they are owed. 

Investors will have 30 days to review these calculations and notify the court-appointed receiver  of any issues. 

“There were approximately 40,325 transactions made by Agridime between 2021-2023, and it took a bit of work in the company’s bank records to determine what amounts were being paid to whom,” the update said. 

It also said a motion will be filed with the court outlining the forensic accounting analysis of Agridime between 2021 and December 2023. The motion “will provide insight into the company’s operations during that time period and whether the company was paying returns on older investor contracts with money received from new investors.”