A key Biden administration official at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is tied to an apartment building in Los Angeles that has a history of serious safety violations, according to a watchdog organization.

Code inspection reports obtained by the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) and shared with The Daily Wire indicate that properties owned by a family trust affiliated with Ann Carlson, the acting administrator and chief legal counsel for the NHTSA, have a history of safety violations, prompting concern from Senate Republicans.

“Given that NHTSA’s mission is to ensure safety on the nation’s roads, Ann Carlson’s reported carelessness regarding safety at properties owned by her family trust are concerning,” a spokesman for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee told The Daily Wire. “Whether it’s her ties to radical environmentalists, her hypocrisy regarding her investments in oil and gas, or her inability to properly manage investment properties, Ann Carlson’s record raises serious concerns about her ability to lead NHTSA even on a temporary basis.”

The Daily Wire has reached out to the NHTSA, an agency tasked with improving vehicle safety, for comment.

President Joe Biden previously appointed Carlson to be head of the NHTSA before withdrawing her nomination in May after opposition from Senate Republicans.

Multiple “high” level violations at the Los Angeles apartment building occurred in 2019 when the Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department inspected the apartment and found two separate rooms without smoke detectors as required by city code, according to code inspection reports obtained by the AAF. According to the AAF, the violations “were not fully corrected until two follow-up inspections were performed.”

“The lack of smoke detectors shows negligence by the building’s ownership — the Carlson-Moor Family Trust — and that tenants were in danger and exposed to the risk of harm or even death,” the AAF said in a memo shared with The Daily Wire.

Several other 2019 violations noted by city inspectors included a lack of carbon monoxide detectors across two separate properties and several issues pertaining to plumbing in the building, including having no permit to install a water heater, the AAF found.

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“The fact that Joe Biden’s ‘highway safety’ chief has repeatedly jeopardized the safety of her own tenants completely disqualifies her from this role. She has no business regulating the lives of the American people while she herself repeatedly violates health and safety regulations,” said AAF President Tom Jones. “Yet unfortunately it is not surprising, ‘Rules for thee but not for me’ seems to be the new motto of the Democrat Party. Carlson must resign immediately.”

Another alleged violation occurred at one of the properties recently, according to a complaint filed last month that claims that a “garage was demolished and released lead contamination.” The complaint also alleges that there was new construction not up to fire code and that property lines were crossed.

Prior to serving in the Biden administration, Carlson was an environmental professor at UCLA. She took a leave of absence to begin work at the NHTSA and has faced regular criticism from Republicans over environmental regulations she has helped to craft.

Taylor Sheridan, creator of the hit series “Yellowstone,” recently did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter discussing his thoughts on the show coming to an end with lead actor Kevin Costner exiting.

“My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct. He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with ‘Yellowstone.’ I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward [his preferred exit date],’ which we did,” Sheridan said.

Fans were shocked that Costner would choose to depart when the show was more popular than ever, with multiple spinoffs, including “1923” and “1883,” on the air and several others in the works. But Sheridan said Costner wanted to work on his own Western-style project, which he’s apparently been developing for 35 years, instead of continuing with “Yellowstone.”

“My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered,” Sheridan told THR. “His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful … and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone. But once lawyers get involved, then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting.”

“He took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it,” Sheridan continued. “His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it — and that it’s a good one.”

“I’m disappointed,” Sheridan said. “It truncates the closure of his character. It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it.”

The interviewer noted how the “Yellowstone” creator hinted that John Dutton wouldn’t have survived through the entire series anyway. 

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“I don’t do f***-you car crashes,” Sheridan said, referencing a time when Shonda Rhimes killed off Patrick Dempsey’s character on “Grey’s Anatomy” amid rumors of drama on the set. “Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling,” Sheridan said.

Sheridan confirmed that more spinoffs would happen, including one likely involving Matthew McConaughey. 

As for the end of the original “Yellowstone” series, Sheridan said there could be more than six episodes in the second half of the fifth season. “If I think it takes 10 episodes to wrap it up, they’ll give me 10,” he said. “It’ll be as long as it needs to be.”