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IG Report Raises Serious Questions About Zinke's Time at Interior -- Congress and DOJ Should Make Him Answer
Today, Accountable.US released the following statement responding to a new Inspector General report that raises serious ethical and legal questions about Ryan Zinke's time as Interior Secretary in the Trump administration:
"The inspector general has raised several serious ethical and legal questions about Ryan Zinke's conduct as Interior Secretary during the Trump administration. It's time for Congress and the Justice Department to make him answer," said Kyle Herrig, president of government watchdog Accountable.US.
BACKGROUND:
WASHINGTON
Today, Accountable.US released the following statement responding to a new Inspector General report that raises serious ethical and legal questions about Ryan Zinke's time as Interior Secretary in the Trump administration:
"The inspector general has raised several serious ethical and legal questions about Ryan Zinke's conduct as Interior Secretary during the Trump administration. It's time for Congress and the Justice Department to make him answer," said Kyle Herrig, president of government watchdog Accountable.US.
BACKGROUND:
- Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke Was The Subject Of An Inspector General Investigation After He Allegedly Colluded With The Chairman Of Halliburton. "Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke made no secret of his dream of opening a microbrewery in his hometown of Whitefish. Now, the department's inspector general will be asking whether he colluded to have the chairman of Halliburton, one of the leading companies with business before the department, build him one." [Politico, 08/02/18]
- Zinke Had Allegedly Used His Office To Set Up A 'Nest' For Post-Government Life. "The Interior Department IG's office announced in late July that it is investigating Zinke's dealings with Lesar, a purview that ethics specialists say will include questions about the brewery. Ethics rules bar officials from using their official contacts to set up 'nests' for their post-government lives, and the microbrewery was a focus of both the ethics watchdogs and the House Democrats who requested the investigation after POLITICO first reported on Zinke's links to Lesar." [Politico, 08/02/18]
- As Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke was responsible for overseeing decisions on oil and gas exploration on public lands that could directly benefit oil and gas multinational corporation Halliburton. [Politico, 06/19/18]
- Zinke Had Been Planning To Open A Brewery In Whitefish Since 2012. "Following an outcry from neighbors, Ryan Zinke shelved his plans to build a microbrewery and bed and breakfast along West Second Street. Concerned neighbors submitted a signed petition to the city, protesting an "alteration of zoning regulations" and requiring a two-thirds city council vote to approve the project. City planning staff had also cited concerns and noted that the planning board altered findings of fact in its recommendation for approval." [Flathead Beacon, 12/09/12]
- Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke And His Spouse Lola Controlled A Foundation That Pledged To Contribute A Parking Lot For A Real Estate Project Funded By Halliburton Chairman David Lesar. "A foundation established by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and headed by his wife is playing a key role in a real-estate deal backed by the chairman of Halliburton, the oil-services giant that stands to benefit from any of the Interior Department's decisions to open public lands for oil exploration or change standards for drilling. A group funded by David Lesar, the Halliburton chairman, is planning a large commercial development on a former industrial site near the center of the Zinkes' hometown of Whitefish, a resort area that has grown increasingly popular with wealthy tourists. The development would include a hotel and retail shops. There also would be a microbrewery -- a business first proposed in 2012 by Ryan Zinke and for which he lobbied town officials for half a decade." [Politico, 06/19/18]
- Lola Zinke Pledged In Writing To Contribute Land For A Commercial Parking Lot From What The Zinkes Had Managed As "a Veterans Peace Park." "Meanwhile, a foundation created by Ryan Zinke is providing crucial assistance. Lola Zinke pledged in writing to allow the Lesar-backed developer to build a parking lot for the project on land that was donated to the foundation to create a Veterans Peace Park for citizens of Whitefish. The 14-acre plot, which has not been significantly developed as a park, is still owned by the foundation. Lola Zinke is its president, a role her husband gave up when he became interior secretary." [Politico, 06/19/18]
Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog that exposes corruption in public life and holds government officials and corporate special interests accountable by bringing their influence and misconduct to light. In doing so, we make way for policies that advance the interests of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.
LATEST NEWS
'Planet Wreckers': 4 Rich Nations Plotting Nearly 70% of New Oil and Gas Over Next Decade
"This is not just hypocrisy," said one climate campaigner. "It is a death sentence for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis."
Jun 16, 2025
Four wealthy nations—the United States, Canada, Norway, and Australia—account for the majority of planned oil and gas expansion over the next decade, according to new data published by Oil Change International on Monday, the first day of the Bonn Climate Change Conference in Germany.
Oil Change's analysis, titled Planet Wreckers, notes that if those four Global North nations stopped their planned new oil and gas extraction, 32 billion tons of carbon pollution would stay in the ground instead of being burned and released into the atmosphere, where they fuel planetary heating. That's the equivalent of three times the annual global emissions created by burning coal.
"A handful of the world's richest nations remain intent on leading us into disaster. This is not just hypocrisy. It is a death sentence for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis," Oil Change International global policy lead Romain Ioualalen said in a statement Monday.
"It is sickening that countries with the highest incomes and outsized historical responsibility for causing the climate crisis are planning massive oil and gas expansion with no regard for the lives and livelihoods at stake," Ioualalen added.
(Image: Oil Change International)
Nations that took part in the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, in Dubai committed to an equitable transition from fossil fuels. However, as Ioualalen noted, "this commitment is largely being ignored by some of the world's richest countries."
"Equity is not a buzzword. It is a foundational requirement to accelerate the transition," he asserted. "Until the richest countries commit to ending fossil fuel production and use and deliver adequate climate finance on fair terms, global calls for fossil fuel phaseout will ring hollow to developing countries that are struggling to meet development, energy access, and climate resilience needs."
The prospects of the U.S. making any meaningful near-term contribution to such a transition are dim given the Trump administration's "drill, baby, drill" energy policy.
The new report, and this year's Bonn conference, come between last year's COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan and the upcoming COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Oil Change noted that Brazil ranks among the 10 largest projected expanders of oil and gas over the next decade, with plans to surpass Saudi Arabia.
"Countries have an opportunity to course correct by working together," Ioualalen stressed. "COP30 must deliver a collective roadmap for equitable phaseout dates for fossil fuel production and use, to actually deliver on commitments all countries made at COP28."
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Gold Phone and Mobile Service Blasted as Latest 'Trump Family Profiteering'
"Good luck getting a federal agency to hold the company accountable if service fails or things go off the rails," said one critic.
Jun 16, 2025
The Trump Organization on Monday announced the creation of a new cellular phone service named after U.S. President Donald Trump and teased the upcoming release of a gold, $499 smartphone—news that elicited swift rebuke from two watchdog groups.
"The limit to Trump family profiteering does not exist," wrote the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in response to Eric Trump discussing the update on Fox Business Network on Monday.
The new wireless service, called "Trump Mobile," advertises a $47.45 a month plan, and will operate as a licensing agreement.
"Trump Mobile, its products and services are not designed, developed, manufactured, distributed, or sold by the Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals," according to a Monday statement from the Trump Organization, which is headed by the president's sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. "T1 Mobile LLC uses the 'Trump' name and trademark pursuant to the terms of a limited license agreement which may be terminated or revoked according to its terms."
According to that same statement, Trump Mobile will offer 5G service in partnership with existing major cellular carriers. It will also offer unlimited talk and text and other benefits, and subscribers to the plan will receive "telehealth services, including virtual medical care, mental health support, and easy ordering and delivery for prescription medications."
In addition to the new wireless service, a gold-colored "T1" smartphone will be available starting September, according to the Trump Mobile website.
"It seems utterly unfathomable that you could build a phone with this set of specs, at this price, to be delivered in September," remarked David Pierce, editor-at-large at The Verge.
The new wireless phone service is one of several products featuring the Trump name, including the $TRUMP meme coin.
Trump reported over $600 million in income stemming from a variety of ventures, including cryptocurrency, in a public financial disclosure report that appeared to cover the period of 2024 and which was released on Friday, according to Reuters. The report showed that Trump made millions in royalty payments for products that feature his name and likeness, according to NBC News. $TRUMP was released in January and not included in the filing, per NBC.
"The foray into phones raises new questions about conflicts of interest, with the president's family business entering a sector heavily regulated by federal agencies while Trump wields executive power over them," The Guardianreported on Monday. "It creates a particularly difficult situation for the Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, who must now oversee regulatory matters affecting a network bearing his boss's name."
Robert Weissman, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, wrote on Monday that "Americans should slam down the phone in response to the latest marketing ploy from the Trump family business. Everything about this plan should tell Americans to disconnect right away."
Weissman cast doubt on the plan for a number of reasons, including that the physical phone would be designed and built in the United States. While speaking on "The Benny Show," Eric Trump said Monday that "eventually all the phones can be built in the United States."
Separately, Weissman added, "Good luck getting a federal agency to hold the company accountable if service fails or things go off the rails."
"We'll need many more details to fully assess what's going on—including the worrisome claim of offering a pharmacy and telehealth benefit—but it's already clear this is a plan that should be canceled, immediately," Weissman concluded.
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American Bar Association Sues to End Trump 'Law Firm Intimidation Policy'
"There has never been a more urgent time for the ABA to defend its members, our profession and the rule of law itself," said the group's president.
Jun 16, 2025
The American Bar Association sued U.S. President Donald Trump's administration in a Washington, D.C. federal court on Monday over what the ABA called his "law firm intimidation policy."
"Since taking office earlier this year, President Trump has used the vast powers of the executive branch to coerce lawyers and law firms to abandon clients, causes, and policy positions the president does not like," states the ABA complaint, which names various entities and leaders in the administration as defendants.
The document lays out how the administration has carried out this policy using "executive orders designed to severely damage particular law firms and intimidate other firms and lawyers," as well as "'deals' or 'settlements' between the administration and certain law firms in order to avoid such orders or have them rescinded."
Trump's administration has also relied on "other related executive orders, letters, and memoranda," and "public statements by the president and his administration publicizing the objectives of the law firm intimidation policy," the complaint details. "The president's attacks on law firms through the faw firm orders are thus not isolated events, but one component of a broader, deliberate policy designed to intimidate and coerce law firms and lawyers to refrain from challenging the president or his administration in court, or from even speaking publicly in support of policies or causes that the president does not like."
The filing stresses that "without skilled lawyers to bring and argue cases—and to do so by advancing the interests of their clients without fear of reprisal from the government—the judiciary cannot function as a meaningful check on executive overreach."
Some firms are already fighting back against Trump's attacks, which the ABA called "unprecedented and uniquely dangerous to the rule of law." As Bloombergdetailed Monday:
Three firms hit with executive orders—Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale—later obtained permanent injunctions against the executive orders, with judges striking them down as unconstitutional. Susman has obtained a temporary injunction and is awaiting a ruling on a request for a final decision.
Nine other firms have pledged a total of nearly $1 billion in free legal services as part of deals to avoid similar orders. They committed to working on causes championed by Trump, including combating antisemitism, assisting veterans, and ensuring fairness" in the justice system.
After powerhouse firm Paul Weiss struck a deal with Trump, eight others—A&O Shearman, Cadwalader, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Milbank, Simpson Thacher, Skadden Arps, and Wilkie Farr—followed suit. The firms have faced intense criticism for the agreements.
Meanwhile, as the ABA filing points out, "public reporting demonstrates that the chill on the legal profession—and particularly on 'Big Law' firms—has not been relieved by these favorable rulings. 504 law firms filed an amicus brief in support of Perkins' motion for summary judgment. As was widely reported, though, none of the top 25 U.S. law firms by revenue signed the brief, and fewer than 10 of the top 100 firms (the AmLaw 100) signed."
"By the time Susman filed its motion for summary judgment, four different judges had enjoined executive orders targeting law firms as likely unconstitutional," the complaint adds. "Yet still, fewer than 10 of the AmLaw 100 firms signed the brief in support of Susman, and none of the top 25 firms did."
The complaint also highlights other impacts, including that "many attorneys are no longer willing to take on representations that would require suing the federal government," and "others have dropped ongoing representations; ended their participation in
contemplated cases; or declined representations—even of clients with whom they had longstanding prior attorney-client relationships—not because the merits of the case were weak or the attorney had some substantive objection to taking the case, but because the representation was deemed too likely to result in severe retaliation from the president."
"Public interest attorneys who rely on their partnership with and representation by law firms—particularly in time- and resource-intensive pro bono cases—have not brought cases that they otherwise would have because their choice of counsel has been compromised," the filing says. "Still others have abstained from expression related to their prior representations that they would otherwise have engaged in, or even removed existing writings related to past representations from the public sphere."
"And those attorneys who do intend to proceed with work disfavored by the president now do so under the objective threat of potentially devastating retaliation pursuant to the policy, with all the severe harm, expense, and distraction that accompany such threat," the document warns. "All such harms are already happening; are ongoing; and will continue in the absence of relief from the court."
While the White House hasn't yet commented on ABA v. Executive Office of the President et al., William R. Bay, president of the association, said in a Monday statement that "this is the time to stand up, speak out and seek relief from our courts... There has never been a more urgent time for the ABA to defend its members, our profession, and the rule of law itself."
This is not the legal group's only case against the administration. Bloomberg noted that "the ABA earlier this year laid off one-third of its workforce after the Trump administration cut $69 million of its grant funding. The organization is waging another suit against the Justice Department as it tries to cut another $3.2 million in federal grants."
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