Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen reportedly frustrated federal prosecutors last year when he panned an investigation into former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
Zinke, a Montana Republican, resigned from his position as secretary in December 2018, less than two years after his confirmation, amid more than a dozen investigations into ethics violations during his time as secretary, including using his position for personal gain. Other investigations included his attempt to have his wife appointed as a Department of the Interior volunteer “to legitimize her travel” with him in government vehicles, censoring a climate change report, and alleged retaliation against a whistleblower, according to Citizens for Ethics.
Lawyers from the Department of Justice Criminal Division presented a case to Rosen’s office in 2019 following a grand jury investigation in February of that year, according to reports from the New York Times and the Washington Post. Evidence from the investigation suggested that Zinke made false statements to investigators in defending his decision to reverse course and grant a petition by two Native American tribes to operate a casino off of reservation lands in Connecticut.
A Justice Department official told the Washington Post that “substantial questions arose about the strength of the case” and that the division “agreed to do additional work” to shore up its argument. Rosen himself said the prosecutors needed more evidence before they could prosecute.
Since the case was part of a grand jury investigation, none of the details or evidence are public, making it difficult to evaluate its strength, according to the New York Times. Regardless, the decision not to move forward with a prosecution “exacerbated a sense inside the Public Integrity Section that top department officials would hinder investigations into Mr. Trump and his officials, according to several people familiar with the inquiry.”
The case is still open, according to a person familiar with the matter. Prosecutors could wait to submit the case a second time after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated, but further delays “generally make cases weaker as witness memories fade, and there is no guarantee that higher-ups in a new administration would view the facts differently from Rosen,” according to the Washington Post.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the DOJ Criminal Division and the Office of the Interior for further comment.
