Inspector General Finds Trump Secretary Lied To Investigators In Ethics Probe

By
Caleb Newton
-
0
2251

The Inspector General’s office overseeing the Interior Department has concluded that ex-Trump administration Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke violated federal ethics rules while in office and lied to officials about it. As summarized by The Washington Post, the argument from Zinke was that ‘[negotiations] over a land deal in his hometown of Whitefish, Mont., were proceeding without him. His involvement was minimal, he said; his meeting with the project’s developers at Interior headquarters was “purely social.”’ These claims do not reflect what actually unfolded; between August 2017 and July 2018, Zinke apparently communicated with the development team on the other side of the prospective land deal 64 times. As for that Interior HQ get-together, development team members shared formal plans with Zinke for the parking lot while there.

“Inspector General Mark Greenblatt’s report found that Zinke broke federal ethics rules repeatedly by improperly participating in real estate negotiations with the then-chairman of the energy giant Halliburton and other developers,” the Post explains. The matter was referred to the Justice Department, but prosecutors have opted against bringing criminal charges, which would’ve presumably been related to some form of corruption. The deal in question was a planned donation of land from the Zinke family foundation for a parking lot associated with a retail and hospitality-oriented development by an entity funded by then-Halliburton chairman David J. Lesar. Ahead of Zinke’s role in the Trump administration, he pledged that he’d both resign from the foundation and refrain from completing any work on its behalf — and then, he was involved with the land deal negotiations for almost a year while working as Secretary.

Besides the violations of federal ethics requirements, Zinke also abused his position, the Inspector General found. Specifically, he had staff members perform related tasks including setting up a meeting with the development team associated with that sought after land deal, and mixing personal and official concerns in such a manner is generally not allowed for federal officials. The Pompeos — including ex-Secretary of State Mike — acted similarly; as summarized by POLITICO, “[former] Secretary of State Mike Pompeo violated federal ethics rules governing the use of taxpayer-funded resources when he and his wife, Susan, asked State Department employees to carry out tasks for their personal benefit more than 100 times, a government watchdog has determined.”

Zinke is running for Congress in Montana, and his campaign characterized the findings as part of a “Biden Administration led report” that “published false information, and was shared with the press as a political hit job.” Greenblatt, the Interior Department Inspector General who led the formulation of this report, was appointed by then-President Donald Trump, and the investigation into this specific matter began during Trump’s tenure — it’s not a new thing. Eventually, Lola Zinke — Ryan’s wife and the head of the family’s foundation who dealt with these matters — formally walked back the plans to donate land for the lot. At least 15 formal investigations were kickstarted into various elements of Ryan’s actions while in office. In other words, the scope of the apparent corruption within the Trump administration remains stunning, even years into the future.



No related posts.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR