[ad_1]
Sources close to Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, said he had announced his intention to resign from his post by the end of the year. | Puce Somodevilla / Getty Images
Energy & Environment
The news comes just a day after Trump told reporters that Zinke's fate could be announced "in about a week".
US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has explored potential roles within Fox News, the energy sector or other companies, as more and more signs indicate that He would leave the office of President Donald Trump while he faces investigations into his ethics, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The news comes just a day after Trump told reporters that Zinke's fate could be announced "in about a week" – and as the president is in the early stages of what could be a spectacular post-election cleaning of officials Cabinet and senior officials. assistants, starting with Wednesday's ousting of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
History continues below
Two of these people said that Zinke had reached out to Fox to find out if he was working for the conservative news channel as a contributor.
Zinke's presence was another sign that the former Navy SEAL and Montana congressman was looking for new job opportunities. Zinke is also looking for positions on boards of directors of energy companies or private equity firms, sources said – positions that, according to a monitoring group, could pose problems in conflicts of interest for his current position, Interior.
People close to Zinke said he had made it known that he was planning to resign from his post by the end of the year. He has not yet made such announcements, however, and he m said Wednesday on Twitter that he "looks[s] look forward to working with the newly elected members of Congress.
Spokespeople from the Interior Department and News Corp., parent company of Fox News, did not immediately answer questions. POLITICO. But Interior's press office went on Twitter to rule out the possibility that Zinke will join Fox, l & # 39; writing: "It's ridiculously wrong and belongs to The Onion."
A deal with Fox would be unlikely unless Trump asks Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who owns News Corp., a source told POLITICO. There is no indication that the network has reacted positively to Zinke's openings or has expressed an interest in involving it.
The secretary, whose job includes overseeing vast expanses of the country's energy and mining wealth, has been faced with growing questions about his future, as investigations into his use of taxpayer money are stepped up, on the management of a proposed casino in Connecticut and on its relationships with the industries that it regulates. . These include a probe of a land development project in the hometown of Zinke, Whitefish, Montana, which is supported by the president of the gigantic energy company Halliburton, whose initial report has was reported by POLITICO in June.
The Inspector General's Office of the Interior has referred at least one of his investigations to the Justice Ministry, which may decide to conduct its own investigation or to lay criminal charges, according to several reports.
Expectations of his departure mark a significant change in Zinke's fortunes, which benefited from what a former White House official calls Trump's affection for his outspokenness and charisma. Just a few months ago, Zinke even proposed to replace another Cabinet member, the then EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, said this week to the former head of the White House at POLITICO.
Trump praised Zinke's work in the Interior but said this week that he planned to look into the investigations – and hinted on Wednesday that a decision could be made shortly.
"We are looking at this, and I want to study what is being said," Trump said at a press conference at the White House. "I think it's doing a great job, but we're going to look at that, and we'll probably have an idea about it in about a week."
If Zinke is in talks with an industry that he regulates, such as oil and gas, he could get in trouble with federal ethics laws, said Thursday a lawyer from the Campaign Group monitoring group. Center.
According to federal law, Zinke must recuse himself from any decision taken internally that could affect the business of any company he is looking for a job with, said Delaney Marsco, director of the group. ethics counselor. The group plans to file a complaint about this, said Marsco.
"These recusal obligations apply whether the communications are indirect or not, and even if Zinke is not serious about his work and never takes it," Marsco told POLITICO.
Zinke also had drawings on the upper desk. He was widely viewed as a likely challenger to Montana's Democratic senator, Jon Tester, until Trump named him Secretary of the Interior – a process in which President Donald Trump's son Jr. played a role. And Zinke could eventually decide to take a chance on the Montana governor's run in 2020, although he's probably facing fierce competition in the Republican primary, state political consultants said.
In addition to President Zinke, Republicans interested in the 2020 race include Montana representative Greg Gianforte, Attorney General Tim Fox, Secretary of State Corey Stapleton and External Auditor Matt Rosendale, who almost lost the challenge to test this week.
Zinke could face a new challenge if he tried to run in his former state: as secretary of the interior, he narrowed the boundaries of several national monuments that protect western lands against uses such as the drilling and mining. This helped advance Trump's energy policies, but was unpopular with Montanais, state analysts said.
"I imagine that he will face a cluttered primary," he says. [run]and I do not think his appointment is warranted by any means, "said Brandon DeMars, senior partner at Hilltop Public Solutions, a Montana-based political advisory firm.
Zinke's commitment to private equity would have followed a meeting he had with financiers last year in New York. During an official trip in early September 2017, he was scheduled to meet with representatives of private equity firms Cornell Capital and Harvest Capital; the Kore Capital hedge fund; Ken Pontarelli, a former Goldman Sachs specialist in energy companies; and Brian O 'Callaghan, head of the Wall Street CPI head office, according to documents released to the Sierra Club under the Freedom of Information Act.
Zinke's official calendar indicates that he was in New York at the time the meeting was scheduled to take place, but gave no details about his activities those days, with the exception of his visit to Fox Studios NYC .
The Inspector General of the Interior opened in July an investigation into the real estate transaction in Montana. The proposal, supported by Halliburton President David Lesar, was to build a hotel, shops, microbrewery and other amenities near the center of Whitefish, a popular resort. The project involves land that Zinke and his wife, Lola, own through various limited liability companies, as well as a 14-acre property owned by a foundation created by Ryan Zinke.
Lola Zinke provided crucial support to Lesar-supported development by agreeing in writing to let the developer use part of the foundation's land for parking, POLITICO reported in June. The developer has suggested that Ryan and Lola Zinke own and operate the microbrewery, Whitefish municipal planner David Taylor told POLITICO.
Before signing the parking agreement, Ryan Zinke met with Lesar and the other developers at the headquarters of the Interior Department and discussed the project with them during a dinner, reported POLITICO. .
Zinke called the POLITICO report "false news". His lawyer said last week that "the secretary did nothing wrong".
[ad_2]
Source link
