Neighbors: client Zinke plays secretary and calls US park police to his home

A man who seemed drunk and stayed indoors Secretary Ryan Zinke's house imitated the secretary and then called US police officers from Park to respond to a confrontation in his Washington DC neighborhood on Monday night, witnesses told POLITICO.

The Interior Ministry blamed the incident on "suspicious" people who stopped a barbecue at home, prowling in front of Zinke's house and shouting insults about President Donald Trump – which, according to neighbors, did not take place. But a government ethics expert said he was raising new questions about whether the secretary was using government resources for personal gain.

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Neighbors said the incident began when they saw a black Mercedes with New York license plates running for several hours in front of a residence rented by Zinke since he was a member of the company. Congress. It is unclear why the park police, which is part of the interior department, was summoned to her home rather than the DC Metropolitan Police Department. The house is at the corner of Lincoln Park, a small square guarded by the National Parks Service.

Paul Legere, who lives next door, said that he asked the driver of the Mercedes to move the car, which was blocking several parking spaces in the crowded street. The driver refused to budge and two quarreled around 9 pm Monday, said Legere.

While they were exchanging words, another man came out of the house. He "comes to my window and says," I am secretary Zinke, here is my house and my driver, "recalled Legere during an interview on Tuesday morning.

Legere said that the man seemed to have drunk and would only give his first name, Scott. Scott called the US police department park, then asked the driver to leave, what he did, Legere said. About five minutes later, another vehicle dropped another man who entered Zinke's house with two bags. Five minutes later, Park police boarded two SUVs, "totally rioting," Legere said.

After questioning Legere and other witnesses, the park police told his neighbors that the man was allowed to be in Zinke's house, and then that he was gone. Shortly after, the Mercedes came back and picked up the men from Zinke's home and left, Legere said. The witnesses said that they had not seen Zinke at any time during the incident.

"I'm always pretty bored to see this person claiming to be Zinke to intimidate a neighbor, then call the Park police to protect her, but I guess it's only me," said Regina Arlotto, another resident from the neighborhood attending the incident, in a mailing list for residents of the Lincoln Park section in Washington DC "Nothing makes more sense."

Arlotto confirmed his story during an interview with POLITICO.

An interior spokesman said that Zinke was at home at the time and that he was the one who called the Park police.

"Secretary Zinke and her friends watched football and a barbecue at home last night. Zinke called the security officer with concerns about a suspicious individual who was watching his home and guests. Pending the arrival of the USPP, another person began to shout blasphemies at the president and the secretary, "spokeswoman Faith Vander Voort said in a statement. "The secretary stayed at his house all night while the USPP responded."

Legere and Arlotto challenged the statement of the department. "Ha! Nothing about this is true," writes Legere in an email.

Arlotto, who lives two doors away, said that she doubted Zinke's presence because her car had not been parked in front, contrary to what it's usually when he is at home. She also stated that she did not smell smoke from a grill nor any activity on the outside.

"I know for a fact that no one has complained of blasphemy about the president or the secretary," she wrote in an e-mail. "We had all entered our homes and I was sitting in my bay window without hearing anything. The next thing I knew, was that the USPP was out on the sidewalk. And if Zinke was there, the police did not behave that way. Instead, [sergeant] said that this guy was "allowed" to "stay" in the house? it was very strangely formulated.

A spokesman for Park Police, Sgt. Eduardo Delgado, confirmed that police officers were sent to Zinke's home on Monday night, but said he could not immediately release a copy of the police report before it was examined, to determine whether any information had to be redacted. Delgado said that he did not know why police uniformed police from Park had reacted in place of Zinke's security officer; he said that it was possible that officers were already in the area patrolling Lincoln Park.

Local police in California were not involved, said spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Department, Alaina Gertz. The park police would be the main agency involved if it were called for the first time, but Gertz expressed confusion over their involvement.

"I do not know why, in this scenario, why do they call them instead of 911," added Gertz.

If the guest has used the According to Park police, with Zinke's knowledge, this could be interpreted as a use of his office for personal purposes, said Marilyn Glynn, Acting Director of the Office of Government Ethics under former President George W. Bush .

"In a case like this, the" private benefit "is the advantage that the secretary and his guest could gain by keeping his neighbors away and preserving the incident," said Glynn. "The use of agency employees for private business has already occurred with others [executive branch] employees – for example. pick up the laundry, keep the kids – but has always been recognized as an abuse of power. "

Zinke has been shot in the past accusations of questionable use of park police personnel and resources of the department of the interior.

The secretary used a police helicopter from the park to travel to the capital to official events outside the SDC, to make personal appointments, including a horse ride with Vice President Mike Pence, as reported for the first time POLITICO. In August 2017, he also brought the park police as security with his wife and himself on a personal trip to Turkey and Greece, a move that costs taxpayers about $ 25,000, according to a recent report. of the Inspector General of the Interior.

He also used the park's police to transport family members and friends, according to the same report from the IG. In 2017, he used a park police boat to take his family on a tour of the Channel Islands in California and the Statue of Liberty in New York, according to the report. The security officer also drove a friend to an airport, although he knew they could not do it without the secretary in the vehicle, the report said.

The house is owned by Cynthia Kennard, executive director of the philanthropic Annenberg Foundation, and Vittorio Morandin, based on D.C's public records. Both rent the property, the recordings show.

According to his neighbors, Zinke moved into the house soon after being elected the only Montana congressman in 2014, but he has only been seen sporadically in the neighborhood in recent months.

Kennard and Morandin could not be reached for comment and a spokesman for Annenberg did not answer the questions.

The Mercedes which was parked at the front is linked to a Uber driver based in New York, according to a search of the license plate number in the public archives. A voice mail left to a phone number listed in these records was not immediately returned Monday.

Nobody answered at the door of the house when a reporter knocked on the door Tuesday morning.

Zack Colman contributed to this report.