Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s wife traveled with him in government vehicles against agency policy and he was advised it would be the “cleanest” and “lowest risk” approach not to. But an agency official told schedulers she could justify the arrangement, according to an inspector general report released Thursday.
A deputy solicitor “acknowledged that allowing Lolita Zinke in government vehicles was ‘not in conformance with the language’ of the policy but added that in his opinion, Secretary Zinke was not beholden to [Department of the Interior] policy as this latitude did not violate statutory or regulatory positions,” according to the IG report.
The agency in late July changed the policy to allow Zinke, a former congressman from Montana, to transport his family “after being made aware of our investigation,” the IG report states.
The questions facing Zinke represent the latest in a series of travel-related issues concerning Trump administration officials.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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