Ryan Zinke, Trump’s Interior Dept. chief, violated ethics rules by maintaining improper ties to land developers, a watchdog finds

Interior Department Inspector General Mark Greenblatt Zinke was in the office and sent numerous emails and text messages. He also made phone calls and met with Zinke in his office. Talking with developers to discuss design of large commercial and residential developments in Whitefish, Mont.

Investigators found that Zinke continued to represent his family’s foundation during negotiations for nearly one year, even after he promised federal officials he would resign from foundation and not work on its behalf following his joining the Trump administration.

Zinke could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Zinke is now a leading Republican candidate for a Montana congressional seat. According to the report, Zinke also lied about his involvement in negotiations to an agency ethics officer. Zinke claimed that his participation was limited to tax preparation and that he no longer represents the foundation.

Investigators obtained emails and texts from the developers to subpoena Zinke. This was in order to discover that Zinke had communicated 64 times with them between August 2017-July 2018. This was to discuss the design of the brewery and the plans for it. Zinke met with the developers at his office at the Interior Department headquarters in summer 2017. They were given a personal tour at the Lincoln Memorial, and they had dinner afterwards.

In a 32-page report, investigators concluded that Zinke had misused his official position. They found that Zinke directed his staff to arrange a meeting with developers and to print documents about the project. Federal officials are prohibited from assigning tasks to employees that are not related to their private business.

Zinke was not found to have violated federal conflict of interest laws by the inspector general because his communication with developers was centered on a private business deal and not official Interior Department matters. The investigation did find no evidence that Zinke had used the position to benefit Halliburton for his own financial gain or that his staff tried conceal his involvement with development team.

The Washington Post reported in 2018 that the inspector general had referred this matter to the Justice Department. The case remained open up to last summer when prosecutors declined criminal charges.

Zinke, 60, is a former Navy SEAL and rode on horseback to work his first day at Interior. Before joining Trump’s Cabinet, he served one term as a member of the House of Representatives. He was a prominent proponent of oil and natural gas drilling, as also coal mining. He resigned less than two years later after being subject to a torrent of investigations into him.

Trumps endorsementZinke is widely expected to win his new House seat in Montana due to strong name recognition in the area.

After the investigation into his real-estate dealings began in the summer 2018, Politico reported Zinke had been involved in the project even though he was in office. Conflict of interest concerns were raised because the project involved a group of development funded by David J. Lesar who was then chairman at Halliburton. This group stood to gain from Zinke’s policies that encouraged oil and gas drilling in public lands.

Lesars’ company planned to build large developments along the Whitefish River. It would include shops, a restaurant, and a hotel. Lola Zinkes, his wife, managed the Zinkes family foundation and had offered to donate land for a park lot. The project was known as 95 Karrow and had the potential of increasing the value of several parcels land owned by the Zinkes.

Investigators discovered that Zinkes’ wife, Zinkes, had rescinded her letter of intent to donate land in 2018 for the parking lot.

Zinke declined investigators’ requests for a meeting with them. Zinke refused to meet with investigators when they asked for an interview.

Zinke was accused of misconduct in the Whitefish land deal. At least 15 inquiries were launched. Zinkes decision to deny two Connecticut Tribes a permit for a casino was the subject of one investigation by the inspector general. There were also multiple inquiries into Zinkes travel expenses and whether he broke agency policy by allowing the wife to ride in government vehicles. Questions about Zinke’s management of the department included an investigation into a National Park Service Report that did not mention climate change.

The casino case was referred to Justice Department for possible criminal charges. It is still pending.

The majority of other inquiries were closed by government investigators, but they did not find any evidence that Zinke had violated ethical rules. In other cases officials from the Interior Department refused to cooperate.

The slew if inquiries caused tension in his relationship with White House officials. Zinke was pressured to resign when the Whitefish probe was referred to Justice Department for a possible criminal inquiry. Zinke wrote a private resignation letter blaming his departure on politically motivated attacks. He claimed he couldn’t justify spending thousands of dollars to defend himself and my family from false allegations.

Zinke claimed himself to be a Republican after Theodore Roosevelt’s model. Zinke worked to weaken environmental protections and shrink the national monuments that had been established by previous presidents. Trump removed two national monuments from Utah Bears Ears. He also removed Grand Staircase–Escalante. Zinke called for him to limit the boundaries of several other monuments.

Zinke raised suspicions that career employees at the department were undermining Zinke’s policies. He also told a group of oil-and-gas executives that a third Interior Department employees were disloyal. Zinke abruptly resigned many senior executives.

One of the peculiarities of his tenure was his reintroduction a military ritual that required a security guard to raise a special secretarial flag to the top of the agency’s headquarters in downtown Washington each time he entered the building. The flag was a blue banner with the agency’s bison seal and seven stars representing the Interior Department bureaus. It was taken down when the secretary left Washington for the day.

Zinkes official portrait hangs at headquarters. It shows Zinkes riding a horse in front a tree-covered butte. This scene was inspired by a Bears Ears photograph. At the request of conservationists and tribal activists, President Biden restored protections to the Grand Staircase–Escalante and it.