On her May 11, 2026 broadcast, Rachel Maddow said the watchdog group Campaign for Accountability 'has now written to the U.S. House and Senate, advising them that maybe they ought to open some investigations into ... what they call serious and escalating ethics violations' involving a senior Interior Department official. This holds up. On May 9, Campaign for Accountability announced it had sent letters to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the House Committee on Natural Resources, asking Congress to open an inquiry into what the group called 'serious and escalating ethics violations' by Karen Budd-Falen, the Interior Department's third-ranking official [1]. News coverage that weekend reported the letters had been sent [2]. Maddow attributed the accusation to the group rather than stating it as established fact, and that matches the record: this is the watchdog's request for an investigation, not a finding that any violation occurred. She pronounced the name 'Budd-Phalen,' a close rendering of Budd-Falen, the official referred to throughout. Verdict: TRUE.