Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has failed to properly document his travel, which has stymied the agency’s inspector general from investigating him for his use of military and chartered flights.
Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall told the secretary’s office in a memo, obtained by the Washington Post, that she has been unable to complete her investigation into allegations of improper travel by Zinke because he has provided “absent or incomplete documentation for several pertinent trips.”
Kendall said the records do not “distinguish between personal, political and official travel” or provide an explanation of costs to justify his choice of military or charter flights.
The memo also shows the inspector general’s office is investigating Zinke’s wife, Lola, who has joined him on official trips.
Investigators were not able to learn the “full extent” of Lola Zinke’s travel practices because of improper record keeping.
The Interior Department’s communications staff have said that all of Zinke’s travel was approved beforehand by ethics officials and that he used private charter flights only when commercial flights were not available.
Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt, in a letter obtained by the Post, told Kendall in his response to her memo that the agency would provide the missing travel documents. He blamed the Obama administration for the record-keeping problems.
“When I arrived at the department in August 2017, it was clear to me that the secretary and I inherited an organizational and operational mess from the previous administration,” Bernhardt wrote. “From my perspective … it appears that the exact same [travel] procedures and processes utilized by the previous administration remain in place and continue to be dysfunctional.”
Kendall in her memo requested full records for Zinke and his wife’s travel, including documents showing that non-traditional fights were authorized by ethics officials.
The Interior Department’s inspector general said last month that it had started an investigation into Zinke’s use of military and chartered flights.
Politico reported that Zinke spent $12,000 for non-commercial travel that included speaking to a professional sports team owned by a former campaign contributor.
Zinke has called the reports on his use of private chartered flights a “little B.S.”
Zinke is one of many Trump Cabinet members to face scrutiny over their travel habits.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general last month said it is expanding an investigation of Administrator Scott Pruitt’s travel.
The office is examining Pruitt’s travel through Sept. 30, not just his frequent travel to and from his home state of Oklahoma.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned Sept. 29 after news reports found he spent close to $1 million on private air travel.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry took a private chartered flight to visit a uranium-processing facility in Ohio the day before Price resigned.
