The Interior Department’s internal watchdog published an interim report on Tuesday in which it says that Secretary Ryan Zinke’s charter flights did not violate any laws, but that the department could have avoided some of the cost.
According to the department’s inspector general, three flights on private or military planes taken by Zinke generally followed the relevant rules and were all approved by ethics officials in advance. However, the cost of at least one could have been avoided, ABC News writes.
The inspector general’s office wrote a letter last month to Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt, saying “we question the $12,375 cost for a chartered flight to give a 12-minute speech with no nexus to the DOI.”
The inspector general, however, is still looking into other questions about Zinke’s travel, including the use of department vehicles.
The watchdog’s report also found that Interior Department reimbursed the White House $52,000 for two flights that Zinke didn’t take on Air Force One and Air Force Two. The flights were paid for even though the secretary, who was to travel with the president and vice president, didn’t take them, the inspector general also found out.
An Interior Department spokesperson said Monday that all of the secretary’s travel is approved by career officials in advance and that the report confirms that all of the flights followed proper procedure.
“This report said exactly what was known all along: The use of chartered aircraft “followed relevant law, policy, rules, and regulations,” department spokeswoman Heather Swift said in a statement.
The department spent an additional $100,000 for four flights on Air Force One that Zinke actually took. His use of private and military planes came into the spotlight last year when former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was fired for having spent over $1 million on travel.
Since then, audits into travel costs have been launched for multiple members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet. While some, like Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, were cleared by these audits, others including former Secretary David Shulkin were forced to resign over travel expenses made for private trips.
An audit into travel spending by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is expected to be released this summer.
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