Thread by @RepDonBeyer

Emerging from Pruitt's shadow: Ryan Zinke will now face an Inspector General investigation for his shady real estate dealings with the CEO of Halliburton, which may have violated ethics rules.

This is federal investigation number ELEVEN for Zinke 1/ politico.com/story/2018/07/…

Last month, Politico reported that Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke was involved in a real estate deal in his home town with the CEO of energy giant Halliburton, which has numerous interests regulated by the Department of the Interior. 2/ politico.com/story/2018/06/…

Zinke denied personal involvement in that deal, which involved a property development known as 95 Karrow, but his denials didn't hold up.

My @NRDems colleagues @RepRaulGrijalva @RepMcEachin @RepHuffman requested an investigation. 3/

https://twitter.com/NRDems/status/1009918027440250882

Last night the Interior Department's Inspector General confirmed that their office had opened a formal probe into Zinke's conduct in the matter. 4/

As Pruitt stole all of the scandal headlines, Pruitt has quietly racked up a large number of investigations of his own, mostly for potential ethical lapses.

Here's an overviews: 5/
thinkprogress.org/zinke-11-feder…

There's Zinke's possible violations of the Hatch Act, which bans federal employees from helping political campaigns in their official capacity.

Zinke faces investigations for three separate incidents. 6/
cnn.com/2017/10/04/pol…
eenews.net/eenewspm/2018/…
cnn.com/2018/04/10/pol…

There are probes into Zinke's improper use of official vehicles, and non-commercial flights, including charter flights and military planes and helicopters.

Remind you of anyone? 7/
latimes.com/politics/washi…
doioig.gov/sites/doioig.g…
politico.com/story/2017/12/…
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Zinke also faces probes over DOI's handling of a casino expansion, its censoring of a @NatlParkService climate study, and the halting of studies by the National Academies of Science. 8/
courant.com/business/hc-in…
democrats-naturalresources.house.gov/media/press-re…
eenews.net/eenewspm/2018/…

There was an investigation into transfers of staff, which many saw as retaliation.

And there was an investigation of an event you may remember: when he threatened Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski over her healthcare vote.
washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost…
ibtimes.com/ryan-zinke-be-…
9/

Most of these probes, conducted by the DOI Inspector General, the Office of Special Counsel, and the Government Accounting Office, remain open.

In 17 months Zinke has matched the number of federal investigations by all previous 21st century Interior Secretaries put together. 10/

Pruitt was not the only Trump Cabinet member with terrible ethics problems, and Zinke’s issues also stem from ignoring ethics guidelines while empowering industry.

The Trump Administration is historically corrupt, but this GOP-led Congress isn't doing a thing about it. 11/11

*Zinke