Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s wife has helped plan his official government travel and events he attended in the first few months of the Trump administration, according to documents made public Monday.
Lola Zinke joined her husband on international trips and helped arrange the guest list at an April 17 Young America’s Foundation town hall in California where Zinke spoke to young conservatives.
She sent a “list of people I have invited to the event” to two Interior Department staff members.
The revelations are part of new documents obtained by a Montana-based advocacy group, which include travel documents and staff emails.
Politico first reported on the documents.
“These emails show that the leadership at the Department of Interior treats basic ethical standards like an inconvenience,” Western Values Project Executive Director Chris Saeger told Politico.
In another incident, Interior staff members tried to adjust travel logistics on a trip in Alaska so Lola Zinke could attend a dinner with Gov. Bill Walker instead of returning to Washington as planned, the Washington Post reported.
The Interior Department says it has not incurred expenses on Lola Zinke’s behalf.
“DOI incurred no expenses due to Mrs. Zinke’s presence” with the secretary, Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said.
The Interior Department’s inspector general office issued a memo last month showing Ryan Zinke has failed to properly document his travel, which has halted the agency’s inspector general from probing him for his use of military and chartered flights.
As part of the probe, the memo showed, the inspector general’s office is examining Lola Zinke’s travel with her husband on official trips.
Investigators were not able to learn the “full extent” of Lola Zinke’s travel practices because of improper record keeping, the memo said.
Last month, the Interior Department’s inspector general started an investigation into Ryan Zinke’s use of military and chartered flights.
Zinke, who is one of many Trump Cabinet members to face scrutiny over their travel habits, has called the reports on his use of private chartered flights a “little B.S.”
