A grand jury is examining whether former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke lied to federal investigators, according to a new report.
Two Indian tribes allege Zinke did not approve their application to operate a casino in Connecticut because of political pressure from two Republican lawmakers who had received donations from a competing casino.
Grand jury witnesses have been asked whether anyone pressured Zinke to not grant the tribes’ casino application, the Washington Post reported Friday. They’ve also been asked about the advice they gave Zinke during the review of the application.
The inspector general at the Interior Department began investigating the allegations a year ago. Investigators believe Zinke lied to them and referred the probe to the Justice Department in October.
The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes had asked for federal approval to operate a casino in East Windsor, Conn., in 2017. Each tribe already owns and operates a casino on tribal lands within the state, Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun. Unlike the existing casinos, the new, jointly operated casino would not be on reservation land.
Like the state’s other two Indian casinos, the new casino would give 25 percent of its slot revenue to the state. The tribes have a deal with the state that says in exchange for the 25 percent in revenue, they are the only ones who can have slot machines.
MGM Resorts International, a competitor with a casino roughly a dozen miles away across the state line in Massachusetts and which has proposed building a casino in Bridgeport, Conn., opposed the new casino and argued it would give the tribes in unfair economic advantage.
Officials at the Interior Department tentatively approved the proposal in summer 2017 but months later walked back the decision.
After the reversal, the Mashantucket Pequot questioned whether Zinke had been improperly swayed by Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., and then-Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. MGM made political contributions to both lawmakers.
Attorneys for the tribes allege Heller called Zinke hours before the department made a final decision on the casino.
Zinke resigned from his position at the start of the year amid investigations into whether he misused his position for personal gain.
He denied any wrongdoing last month in the casino case in an interview with the Washington Post.
“The Department of Interior should not take a position on any activity outside the reservation that is not bound by law or treaty,” he said.
“I sided with a principle that I didn’t want to take a position on something that was off the reservation. I had multiple legal counselors’ opinions about what was legal. The investigators may not have liked my answers, but they were truthful.”
