Washington Post: Grand Jury Examines Zinke's Alleged Lies to Investigators

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The grand jury marks another success for Zinke, who had been the subject of several departmental inquiries before leaving his post in December.

The sealed case concerns Zinke's refusal of the application of two Native American tribes to open a Connecticut casino in 2017, due to government lobbying by competitor MGM Resorts International, said in a statement. newspaper. The Post reported that Zinke had not yet been summoned to the grand jury on Friday.

The US Attorney's Office in Washington has made no comment.

The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes alleged that Zinke's decision was motivated by political influence, including Republican Mark Amodei and former Sen. Dean Heller, two Republicans from Nevada, who received donations from MGM Resorts International, according to the post. Several interior officials had given their prior approval before the department rejected the petition in September 2017, the Post reported, pushing the tribes to sue.

Federal investigators from the Office of the Inspector General of the Interior examined the issue last year and then determined that Zinke had lied to them. They charged the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation by the end of 2018.

Prosecutors asked witnesses, including officials from the interior, if anyone had tried to convince Zinke to refuse the request of the tribes and what advice they had offered him during the examination of the case, said the two people to Post.

Zinke denied these allegations during an interview with the Post in January.

"The Ministry of the Interior should not take a position on any activity outside the reserve that is not bound by law or by a treaty," he told the newspaper.

"I am in favor of a principle that I did not want to take a stand on something that was off the reserve." I had several legal opinions on what was legal. </ P> <p> Investigators did not may not like my answers, but they were truthful. "

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