Posted on 12/15/2018 7:56:48 AM PST by yesthatjallen
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will depart the administration amid growing controversy over allegations that he violated ethics rules, President Trump announced Saturday.
Trump tweeted early Saturday that Zinke "will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years."
"Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation," Trump wrote.
He did not specify whether Zinke resigned or was fired, and said he will announce a new secretary next week. Whoever Trump nominates will likely have to go through Senate confirmation.
David Bernhardt, the deputy Interior secretary, could take over as acting secretary in the interim.
Bernhardt has been the point person on numerous major Interior initiatives, such as changes to the Endangered Species Act and efforts to start drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He is widely expected to continue similar policies as Zinke, though perhaps with a different tone.
Zinke’s departure as head of the agency that oversees federal land, wildlife and American Indian relations comes as Democrats prepare to take over as the majority in the House, where they’ll have subpoena power for investigations.
Zinke, a former Republican congressman from Montana, has been the subject of more than a dozen investigations for his conduct in office, including scrutiny over a land deal involving a foundation he led and a company backed by David Lesar, chairman of oilfield services company Halliburton.
Interior’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) referred its probe into the deal to the Department of Justice for potential prosecution of conflict of interest laws. Zinke denied any wrongdoing.
That referral came at least a week before Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson announced to staff that Suzanne Israel Tufts, a Trump political appointee at HUD, was going to replace Interior’s acting inspector general. The Hill first reported the shake-up in October. Interior later denied the report and HUD said it was a miscommunication.
Critics raised suspicions about the timing of the two events. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said he would like to probe the nature of the attempted OIG replacement when he likely takes control of the House Natural Resources Committee next year.
The timing “can’t be dismissed as merely a coincidence,” Grijalva told Bloomberg. “That’s why the oversight is so necessary.”
Grijalva further labeled Zinke "unfit" in an op-ed in early December and called for his ouster from the administration.
Zinke responded swiftly by attacking Grijalva personally on Twitter.
“It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle,” Zinke tweeted.
“This is coming from a man who used nearly $50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior,” he continued, with a reference to Tune Inn, a Capitol Hill bar Grijalva frequents.
ETC...
Replacement guy is great.
Good. He was a big supporter of expanding the land owned by the NPS and said that it was the job of the National Park Service to “tell the story of America”. No, it’s not the government’s job to “tell the story”, which in PC times means the story of how slaves, Native Americans, and women fared in earlier times. It is the job of the NPS to preserve and conserve land. Good riddance.
“when he likely takes control of the House Natural Resources Committee next year”
Mind boggling that the low life barefoot drunken Mexican Separatist Raul Grijalva will be head of the Natural Resources Committee of the United States of America.
He exists only because of a court gerry-mandered district in Tucson and spent his whole life on the school board there agitating for Spanish in the schools, special privileges for Mexican “students”, and whining about the existence of the border.
Arguably, Secretary Zinke has done more to support the boom in the energy sector, than even Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.
Zinke has been effective. The largest areas in American history have been opened to exploration and development, and rules designed to sabotage that sector have been swept away. Now we are the world’s largest producer of either oil or natural gas, and we are adding the additional production a fair-sized OPEC member each year.
The huge areas he opened up will produce for decades. A lot of Americans, including the members of several tribes, are going to be a lot richer over the next few decades, because of what he achieved in his two years.
I hope they find another position where we can continue to benefit from his talent. As a Navy Seal with 22 years on active duty (the first Seal elected to Congress, or to hold a Cabinet post), he has the courage to fight the Leftists looking to undermine our Country - unlike many other Republican politicians.
Fair winds and following seas, Brother Ryan.
When Trump never mentioned Zinke on the last two trips to MT to campaign for Matt Rosendale, I figured this was in the making.
Nonsense! We can’t drill our way out of this! /bitter sarc
The Commie pigs at The Hill are laying a bullsh*t trail so thick that not even tanks can transverse it.
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