Zinke Hearings Warming Up; UT Monument Case Teed Up By House Natural Resources Cmte.

[hatrack]

EDIT

The most serious charge against Zinke could be a Justice Department examination of a real estate deal in Montana involving Zinke’s family and a development group backed by David Lesar, chairman of oil field services company Halliburton.

One of the top policy targets of House Democrats will be Zinke’s handling of the shrinking of two national monuments in Utah. When he takes control of the House Natural Resources Committee next month, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) will have significantly greater powers to investigate the Trump administration’s controversial decision to decimate the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.

Adam Sarvana, Grijalva’s spokesman on the House Natural Resources Committee, told ThinkProgress on Monday that the committee intends to continue oversight of Zinke’s policy decisions: “How they were arrived and who he spoke to before he made them, especially on questions like the destruction of the Utah monuments and the opening of public lands to major fossil fuel extraction.”

And even though Zinke is resigning, environmental and public interest groups are urging the inspector general and Justice Department to stay the course with their investigations into his alleged misconduct. “The investigations into Zinke’s ties to industry and misuse of taxpayer funds must continue and the Department of the Interior must reexamine every decision made during Zinke’s tenure that may have been influenced by the fossil fuel industry and other polluting special interests,” League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski said Saturday in a statement.

EDIT

https://thinkprogress.org/house-democrats-wont-let-zinke-escape-investigation-even-after-he-leaves-office-e0334663378c/

[Baitball Blogger]

1. Can Zinke face jail time?

[hatrack]

2. If he did, it would likely be the MT land deal that brought in the DOJ

If DOJ gets in, it's going to be pretty smelly.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. He needs to go to jail.

All this heat is a calculated risk for them. The fact that they're willing to take the anger and criticism without blinking an eye just shows you that they're in it for their own aims knowing that they'll walk away the richer for it.