Just Plane Dirty? Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s Travel Under Investigation

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s travel as a government employee has come under scrutiny after flights on chartered planes caught the eye of federal investigators. The Interior Department’s office of inspector general launched an investigation last week into Zinke’s travel, citing several ethics complaints.

Politico broke the story last week of Zinke’s use of chartered and military planes. One flight from Las Vegas to an airport near Zinke’s home in Montana cost taxpayers over $12,000.

The report uncovered the expensive chartered air travel of several cabinet members in President Donald Trump’s administration including Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. Price was forced to resign Friday after questions arose about the $400,000 travel bill he accumulated taking private planes.

Politico also first broke the story of the probe into Zinke’s travel.

“We are looking into the secretary’s travel,” Nancy DiPaolo, spokesperson for the inspector general’s office, told the Los Angeles Times. “It will likely include modes of transportation, costs and schedules.”

The chartered flight to Montana allowed him to give a speech to the Las Vegas Golden Knights, a new NHL team owned by one of Zinke’s most generous political donors.

During a Friday speech to the conservative Heritage Foundation, Zinke called the claims of misuse of tax dollars, “a little B.S.”

“The flights were only booked after extensive due diligence by the career professionals in the department’s general law and ethics division,” said Zinke.

The senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona and Rep. Donald McEachin of Virginia, a Democrat who sits on the oversight panel of the committee, wrote a complaint to the inspector general.

“Each of the trips… involved events that may not be taxpayer reimbursable,” they wrote speaking about political events Zinke has attended.