Trump's Interior Secretary Forced to Resign Amid a String of Scandals

Donald Trump’s embattled interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, is stepping down, following a series of scandals in which he is accused of using his position for personal gain.  Zinke becomes the latest official to leave Trump’s cabinet in an exodus following the midterm elections.

Under Zinke’s leadership, the interior department has sought to advance oil and gas drilling and mining on or near public land, rolled back protections for threatened species and shrunk national monuments.

“Zinke’s days of plundering our lands and enriching himself and his friends are over,” said Nicole Ghio, senior fossil fuels program manager for Friends of the Earth.  “With an average of nearly one federal investigation opened into his conduct in office per month, Zinke’s highly questionable ethics have finally caught up with him. Now, he is just another name on Trump’s list of disgraced cabinet officials, which the Republican-led Congress has failed to hold accountable.”

The Natural Resources Defense Council quipped in a press release that Zinke shouldn’t “let the $139,000 door hit [him] on the way out”. Zinke came under fire for the department’s spending that much to upgrade three sets of double doors.

Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, called Zinke “the most scandal-plagued interior secretary in recent memory”.

Zinke is linked to a real estate deal with the chairman of the oil-services company Halliburton and is accused of blocking Native American tribes from expanding a casino and of redrawing the boundaries of a national monument for political reasons. He also inappropriately allowed his wife to travel with him in official vehicles and invited campaign fundraisers on a government boat tour, according to the watchdog.

He said: “The damage done by this administration’s anti-conservation policies will not be erased by his departure alone,” noting that Zinke’s replacement would continue to pursue policies friendly to the fossil-fuel industry.

Joel Clement, a department climate scientist who resigned last year, said this week that Zinke and his staff “sidelined scientists and experts while handing the agency’s keys over to oil, gas and mining interests.