Democrats Vow Probe of Bid to Oust Investigator Targeting Zinke

House Democrats are vowing to probe the Trump administration’s botched bid to replace a government investigator who had asked the Justice Department to look into Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s role in a Montana land deal. The since-abandoned move to install a new acting inspector general of the Interior Department was described in an Oct. 12 email from Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson. About a week earlier, the acting inspector general targeted for replacement had referred a Zinke investigation to the Justice Department for a possible criminal probe, said two people familiar with the action who asked not to be named discussing a government inquiry. The timing “can’t be dismissed as merely a coincidence,” said Representative Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat expected to lead the House Natural Resources Committee next year. “That’s why the oversight is so necessary.” Grijalva vowed to use his committee’s oversight power “to get the facts” after Democrats take over the House in January.,,MORE