Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is currently under investigation over his use of charters funded with taxpayer money. The Interior Department inspector general is looking into Zinke’s travel over the past seven months, his schedules as well as costs incurred during those travels.
The investigation was prompted by multiple complaints coming from the public, as well as on the request of Congressmen Raúl M. Grijalva and A. Donald McEachin. Zinke is among the several secretaries from Trump’s administration whose travels are being inspected. Scott Pruitt, the current Environmental Protection Agency Administrator, is also under scrutiny by the agency watchdog for his repeated travels to Oklahoma. Tom Price recently submitted his resignation as Secretary of Health and Human Services after being criticized for using over 400,000 dollars of taxpayer money for government business.
Only a few months ago Zinke chartered a flight to Montana for private purposes, which according to Interior Department spokeswoman cost over 12,000 dollars. Zinke attended an event organized by one of Zinke’s campaign donors, where he spoke for the Las Vegas Golden Knights, which provides another point of investigation. Namely, it remains to be seen whether by doing so he violated the Hatch Act which does not allow employees of the President’s administration to take part in partisan political activities.
This was not Zinke’s first private travel, though he asserted that all his travels were previously approved by Interior Department ethics officials in order to make sure that he is “above the law”, reports The Spokesman Review. Congressman Grijalva criticized Trump’s administration for spending large amounts of money on such flights, while claiming there are insufficient funds for public education or Medicaid.
It is yet to be proven whether these travels were at taxpayer expense and Zinke’s office refused to comment on the matter.
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