Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is Stepping Down

Gabrielle Bruney
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Esquire

A week after he told reporters that Chief of Staff John Kelly will be leaving the White House by the end of the year, President Trump took to Twitter to announce that Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will also step down.

Zinke's tenure was beset by ethics controversies that found him the subject of more than a dozen investigations. One centered on a development deal in his hometown that involved oil services company Halliburton. According to The New York Times:

In June, Politico reported that Mr. Lesar, the Halliburton chairman, was lending financial backing to a major development in Mr. Zinke’s hometown, Whitefish, that would significantly raise the value of property owned by the Mr. Zinke. The development would include a hotel, shops and a brewery, and Mr. Zinke’s wife had pledged in writing to allow the developer to build a parking lot that would help make the project possible. The land for the potential lot is owned by a foundation created by Mr. Zinke.

The department’s decision to spend $139,000 on a door for Zinke’s office also attracted scrutiny.

Together with former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, Zinke presided over the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back of environmental regulations. He oversaw the nation’s largest-ever reduction of federally protected land, reducing the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase national monuments by 85 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

Zinke is expected to be replaced by his deputy secretary, former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt.

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