When Donald Trump’s transition team came to him with a list of possible cabinet members and department heads, he clearly asked them one question: Can they be as corrupt as me? Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, like everybody else that has come and gone in this administration, has been dogged by all kinds of questions concerning conflict of big business interest, and his use of public funds to do seemingly private things. Now CNN reports that Zinke is under investigation by the Justice Department due to a “referral from Interior’s inspector general.”
This summer, Interior's inspector general began investigating Zinke's relationship with Halliburton's chairman, including an August 2017 meeting Zinke held at Interior. The two discussed the land development project run by Lesar's son and located near land owned by Zinke's family's foundation. Politico, which uncovered the meeting, reported the development could include a brewery that the Zinkes could run, a potential financial benefit for the Zinkes. One source told CNN that the project has the potential to increase the value of Zinke's land holdings in the area, creating a personal gain for Zinke rather than a benefit for the community as a whole.
Zinke has had private meetings with companies he still holds shares in; he’s conveniently dropped the use of science in determining how to best secure our publicly owned lands; he’s lied about wind turbines being more dangerous to wildlife than fossil fuels; he’s openly bragged about his monochromatic sensibility when it comes to staffing his department; and he’s blamed California wildfires on trees, to name just a few other investigable subjects. According to CNN, the investigation into Zinke may also involve his and Trump’s handing over of mineral rights to U.S. public lands to Canadian mining interests.
Who exactly is heading Interior’s investigation into Zinke remains somewhat unclear, as the past couple of weeks have seen reports that Mary Kendall, known for her aggressive investigations into government waste, had been replaced by political appointee Suzanne Tufts—followed by reports that Tufts had not been hired by Interior, and that Kendall would continue in her current position as acting inspector general.