Washington, D.C.
Dueling taunts: A war of words between Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Democrat set to chair the committee overseeing his department offered a preview of the rancor between Trump administration officials and Democrats who will take over the House. Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva called for Zinke’s resignation last week in an op-ed published in USA Today, accusing him of “ethical and managerial failings” that have led to 17 formal probes of Zinke and his department. Zinke then accused Grijalva of being a drunk, saying, “It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle.” He also mocked Grijalva’s use of “nearly $50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior,” a reference to an employment dispute between the congressman and a female aide that concluded in 2017 with a $48,000 “severance package.”