Trump Interior Chief Lied to Investigators in Casino Case, Watchdog Finds

The office of the inspector general (OIG) released Wednesday a report that found former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lied repeatedly to federal officials. He first raised red flags in early 2017, when the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes had submitted a request for federal approval to build a gambling facility in East Windsor, Connecticut. Zinke neither confirmed nor denied their request, instead sending it back to the tribes. Watchdogs worried that Zinke had been swayed by Nevada Republicans and MGM Resorts International, which did not want competitors to build the casino. The OIG’s investigation eventually found discrepancies between Zinke’s accounts and available evidence—for example, Zinke said he’d acted on the recommendation of Interior attorneys, when Interior attorneys denied having spoken with Zinke. “We found that both Secretary Zinke and the [chief of staff] made statements that presented an inaccurate version of the circumstances in which [the Interior Department] made key decisions,” the report said. “As a result, we concluded that Secretary Zinke and the [chief of staff] did not comply with their duty of candor when questioned.” With Zinke currently running for a Congressional seat in Montana, his attorney wrote, “Given the unnecessary delay in completing the report, we find the timing of the release of this report disturbing and improper.”