Navajo Nation DOJ pressed on public testimony in ZenniHome hearing

Ordinary Navajo residents looking for answers on the ZenniHome housing contracts were left waiting Tuesday as the Navajo Nation Council Budget and Finance Committee pressed the Navajo Nation Department of Justice to help create a process for public witness testimony. The hearing, tied to Resolution BFJY-55-25, was supposed to examine how American Rescue Plan Act and Fiscal Recovery Funds were handled, including procurement, contract performance, invoicing, payments, reporting requirements and compliance with Navajo law.

Instead, the second day of hearings became a fight over access. Acting Deputy Attorney General JoAnn Jayne declined to discuss matters outside executive session after President Buu Nygren and Chief Legal Counsel Bidtah Becker did not appear at the public investigatory hearing. Jayne said she had issued an attorney-client privileged letter and memorandum advising subpoenaed witnesses not to attend because the Department of Justice had not been given a list of clients and individuals subpoenaed. That left committee members, and the public watching the hearing, without the testimony the council had said it needed.

Budget and Finance Committee Vice-Chair Carl R. Slater pushed back, asking what obligations the Department of Justice had to advise the committee once it became aware of the subpoenas and the hearing. He also raised concern that attorney-client privilege was being cited too broadly to keep the public from hearing information tied to the ZenniHome and Indigenous Design Studio + Architects contracts. A June 8 statement from the Office of the President and Vice President had already disputed the council’s account and said the claim that Nygren and other employees “failed to appear” was inaccurate.

The stakes reach far beyond committee procedure. The Navajo Nation Council began examining whether $24 million in federal COVID relief funds had been improperly awarded through the ZenniHome deal, and legislators said formal investigatory hearings were needed to gather facts about ARPA funds issued through the executive branch. The original plan reportedly called for 160 homes at $44 million, but the work order was later cut on July 3, 2025, to 80 homes for $22 million. Later reporting said the controller’s office reported $24 million had been drawn down to construct 80 homes, but only 18 homes were actually built through ZenniHome.

The controversy has also widened beyond the hearing room. In February 2026, Indigenous Design Studio + Architecture LLC sued over about $24 million tied to the project, and ZenniHome filed for bankruptcy one day before a scheduled hearing tied to a nearly $22 million housing dispute. For McKinley County residents who have watched the project’s promises, shutdowns and legal fights unfold, the unanswered question now is whether the council will get a public forum with clear rules for witness testimony, or whether the most important evidence will stay behind closed doors.