Buttigieg releases new details of McKinsey work after mounting pressure
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg released a timeline of his work at McKinsey & Company amid growing pressure for him to be more transparent about his nearly three-year stint at the elite consulting firm.
The South Bend, Indiana, mayor said in a statement accompanying the release that he asked McKinsey to release him from a nondisclosure agreement that prevented him from naming his clients as an employee between 2007 and 2010.
“I never worked on a project inconsistent with my values, and if asked to do so, I would have left the firm rather than participate,” Buttigieg said.
A campaign spokesperson told FOX Business on Friday that McKinsey has not agreed to release Buttigieg from his NDA or to publish his client list.
The scrutiny over Buttigieg’s work comes amid a recent ProPublica report that McKinsey advised the Trump administration on its immigration policy, including proposing cost-saving measures, such as cuts in food and medical care for detainees, that made some Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees uncomfortable. Buttigieg previously called McKinsey’s decision to do what was reported “disgusting.”
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 rival, called on Buttigieg — who's surged in early-voting state polls — earlier this week to be more forthcoming about his time at McKinsey.
“I think that voters want to know about possible conflicts of interest,” she said.
According to the timeline, Buttigieg, for his first project, worked for a nonprofit health insurance provider for about three months, working on a team that was responsible for “identifying savings in administration and overhead costs.”
Democratic presidential candidate South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks during the Iowa Farmers Union Presidential Forum, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019, in Grinnell, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
In 2008, while working in the Toronto area, Buttigieg said he served a grocery and retail chain for about six months, analyzing the effects of price cuts on different items across its “hundreds” of stores. That same year, he served a division of a consumer goods retail chain on a project to investigate opportunities for “selling more energy-efficient home products in their stores.”
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Buttigieg took a leave from the firm that year to work on Democratic Rep. Jill Thompson’s unsuccessful campaign for Indiana governor.
When he returned, Buttigieg -- while in Connecticut -- researched opportunities to combat climate change through energy efficiency. It was co-sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other nonprofit environmental groups and several utility companies. The research was ultimately compiled into a report called “Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U.S. Economy,” his campaign said.
In 2009, Buttigieg worked in California for an environmental nonprofit group on a study to research “opportunities in energy efficiency and renewable energy.” He also, while in Washington, D.C., with trips to Iraq and Afghanistan, served a “U.S. Government department” for a project that was focused on increasing employment and entrepreneurship in both countries’ economies.
Buttigieg said his last project at McKinsey was also in Washington, D.C. During that time, in 2009 and 2010, he served a logistics and shipping provider, working to identify and analyze potential new sources of revenue.
“To the best of my recollection, these are all of my client engagements during my time with the firm, but a full release from McKinsey will allow the American public to see the full scope of my work,” Buttigieg said.