Navajo Nation president, vice president reconcile after year-long rift

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren and Vice President Richelle Montoya announced their reconciliation efforts on July 24, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Navajo Nation Office of the President)

After nearly two years of estrangement, allegations of sexual harassment and a call for resignation, the Navajo Nation president and vice president are ready to work together again.

“I am looking forward to actually being able to do my job at the level that I need and that I should be doing it at,” Navajo Nation Vice President Richelle Montoya said in an interview with the Arizona Mirror.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren and Montoya met on July 22 to discuss reconciliation, a move their office describes as a “step toward healing and unifying the Navajo Nation.”

“The President and Vice President reminded each other of why they committed to run for the two highest offices on the Navajo Nation, and the dedication they share to serving our people,” according to a press release from their office.

The announcement of the reconciliation comes nine months after Nygren terminated Montoya’s authority over any projects and called for her resignation as the vice president.

“We acknowledged that we will not always agree with each other,” Nygren said in a written statement.

“Our reconciliation is greater than our personal feelings,” he added. “It is about the needs of the people and ensuring we continue to focus on the projects that matter to our people.”

Nygren’s office did not respond to an interview request.

The move toward reconciliation comes over a year after the working relationship between Nygren and Montoya imploded in 2024 after she publicly accused him of bullying and harassing her.

She first alluded to issues within the executive office during her remarks at the Navajo Nation Council’s spring session on April 15, 2024, then followed that up with a Facebook Live the next day in which she said she was sexually harassed and bullied in an incident that happened in August 2023, though she didn’t name the alleged perpetrator.

In May, Nygren confirmed in a press conference that Montoya had accused him of acting improperly during a meeting in his office on Aug. 17, 2023.

The Navajo Nation Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation into the allegations in April after Montoya voiced her claims of harassment and bullying.

Based on the preliminary findings, the investigation concluded that “further investigation into Vice President Montoya’s sexual harassment claim and the appointment of a Special Prosecutor are not warranted.”

In response, Montoya demanded that the full report be released and that she be provided a copy. She told the Mirror that she never got the report.

Montoya said she understands that many of the Navajo people may be wondering how she feels moving forward with the reconciliation after everything that has happened.

“I’m still nervous,” she said. “I still have my guard up and I still have boundaries around me to try and protect myself and my people.”

Montoya said she doesn’t know how long she will feel nervous around the Nygren administration, but she wants to work toward a positive environment and mindset.

“My number one goal is my people, making sure that they are safe and that they have what they need to survive on our Navajo Nation,” she added.

Montoya said that reconciliation is the best way forward because it shows there was a disagreement and a break between the two, she said. To move toward something more positive, they need to “come back together and figure it out.”

As part of the reconciliation efforts, Montoya said they signed a memo that outlined some of the priorities she would be overseeing for the remainder of their administration.

The priorities include health, education, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives and animal control. Montoya will also represent Nygren in federal meetings in Washington, D.C., related to any of those priorities.

The office announced that Nygren authorized replacing the vehicle used by the vice president with a new tribal vehicle. Montoya will also receive additional staff, and they will rehire a former staff member to assist her.

As Montoya begins to travel more to engage with the community and leadership, Nygren said the public and fellow leaders should be patient and support this transition as they work through the reconciliation process.

“We have agreed that this reconciliation will take time,” Nygren said in the press release. “We are confident that we will have a successful reconciliation.”

Monotya said she is still working out the details of her office’s budget and how many staff members from Nygren’s administration she would have access to.

“He asked me to be patient with them, and I’m not too sure what that meant,” she added, but she did request details about the job responsibilities of the staff members within the administration and whether she could view their résumés.

She said viewing these details will help her understand their strengths and how she can use them to help with the initiatives she will be overseeing.

Montoya said that Nygren has “created an office with 42 executive staff assistants.” During their meeting, she said Nygren told her that he hopes that through this reconciliation, she will gain access to their resources.

Working as the vice president with no support over the last year has not been easy for Monotya. She operated with zero staff and no budget. She drove herself to events and had no security detail.

Montoya said when Nygren announced in October of last year that he was terminating all of her authorities within the administration, that rippled across the country and impacted her.

“That hindered me from doing my job,” she said, because she encountered many people who took his announcement as law, and that made it harder for her to work with others on any of her initiatives.

“It was a bit difficult,” Montoya said, adding that many told her that they were told it would damage their working relationship with Nygren’s administration if they also worked with her.

Moving forward, Montoya said her priority is the Navajo people.

“I just wanna let my people know that I’m here for them still,” she added. “I’m always gonna be here for them.”

Montoya said she would not be the vice president if it were not for the Navajo people, and she asks for their patience as she works to “reconnect with the president of the Navajo Nation.”

Arizona Mirror is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arizona Mirror maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jim Small for questions: info@azmirror.com.