The mystery of the phantom inspector general is still unsolved and the inspector general of the Interior Department is back in the news. The inspector general’s office released a new report about grifter behavior from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, the result of one of at least four such investigations into Zinke. In this case, Zinke got the department’s solicitor office to approve his wife traveling in government vehicles with him, even though it was against the rules:
The employee who authorized the move told investigators that “she routinely advised” Zinke’s aides “that it would be ‘cleanest’ and ‘lowest risk’ if she did not ride with him” but could find a way to justify it. This summer, Zinke changed Interior’s policy so that family members could ride with him.
Zinke confirmed to investigators that he had directed his staff to research the possibility of giving his wife a volunteer job at Interior, a move that one ethics official objected to on the grounds that it was designed so that Zinke wouldn’t “have to pay” for his wife’s travel. Zinke subsequently “denied that it was an effort to circumvent the requirement to reimburse the DOI for her travel,” the report states.
This report came out just hours after the Interior Department denied that a Housing and Urban Development official and Trump loyalist would be taking over as acting inspector general, a claim HUD Secretary Ben Carson had made late last week. The White House also insists it knows nothing of any such appointment, but the claim from within the administration that a former Trump campaign staffer with no investigative experience would be taking over the role raised some red flags:
While presidents have the right to hire and fire inspectors general, the Inspector General Act of 1978 specifies that candidates should be chosen “without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations.”
That’s hilarious, in the Trump context, and certainly points to a way the Trump administration could solve its little problem of corrupt cabinet officials: by shutting down internal investigations through the appointment of loyalists. That possibility is one more reason we need a Democratic Congress in a position to investigate and conduct oversight of these crooks.
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