Zee you later, Zecretary Zinke!
Scandal-plagued interior chief calls it quits
President Trump’s scandalplagued interior secretary is on his way out.
Ryan Zinke, facing growing criticism and federal investigations into his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest, will leave the Interior Department at year’s end, Trump announced in a Saturday morning tweet.
Trump praised the former Montana congressman for his two years as head of the agency, which oversees federal land, national parks, and the much of the nation’s wildlife and natural resources.
“Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our nation,” the President said.
Zinke’s two years in the Trump administration were plagued by controversy and scandal as the former Navy SEAL sought to roll back federal environmental rules and promote domestic energy development. Environmentalist and conservation groups have long called for his ouster.
In his resignation letter, obtained by The Associated Press, Zinke said “vicious and politically motivated attacks” against him “created an unfortunate distraction.”
Zinke faces nearly 20 federal investigations, among them a probe into a Montana land deal between a charitable foundation he developed and a company backed by David Lesar, the chairman of oil-field services company Halliburton. Democrats, who will have subpoena power for investigations when they take over the House in the new Congress, have promised to focus on Zinke’s activities.
The Interior’s Office of Inspector General — the department’s watchdog agencies — also recently referred a probe of Zinke to the Justice Department for possible criminal violations.
Investigators also are reviewing Zinke’s decision to block two Native American tribes from opening a casino in Connecticut and his redrawing of boundaries to shrink a Utah national monument. His travels with his wife, Lola Zinke, have also come under scrutiny.
The 57-year-old, who rode a bay roan to his Washington office on his first day on the job and ordered staffers to raise and lower a flag indicating when he was in his office, has denied wrongdoing.
“I love working for the President and am incredibly proud of all the good work we’ve accomplished together,” he tweeted Saturday. “However, after 30 years of public service, I cannot justify spending thousands of dollars defending myself and my family against false allegations.”
Top Democrats, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), celebrated Zinke’s exit.
“Ryan Zinke was one of the most toxic members of the cabinet in the way he treated our environment, our precious public lands, and the way he treated the govt like it was his personal honey pot,” he wrote. “The swamp cabinet will be a little less foul without him.”
Since taking office in March 2017, Zinke played a key role in the President’s business-friendly efforts to open up federal land to mining and to auction off more oil leases, ended a moratorium on new sales of federally owned coal, and repealed mandates governing drilling.
Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said Zinke has done a poor job — and that he expects little better from Zinke’s potential replacement, deputy Interior secretary David Berhardt.
“Zinke will go down as the worst Interior secretary in history. His slash-andburn approach was absolutely destructive for public lands and wildlife,” Suckling said.
“Allowing David Berhardt to continue to call the shots will still be just as ugly. Different people, same appetite for greed and profit.”
Bernhardt has helmed several major Trump-favored initiatives — including efforts to start drilling for oil in the Arctic National wildlife Refuge. The former lobbyist for the oil and gas industry has deep ties to the GOP.