Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke Responded to a Demand for His Resignation by Calling a Congressman a Drunk

By Josh Hilgenberg  |  November 30, 2018 | 2:59pm
Photos by Chip Somodevilla/Getty
Politics News Ryan Zinke
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke Responded to a Demand for His Resignation by Calling a Congressman a Drunk

On Friday, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke responded to calls for his resignation via Twitter. Raúl M. Grijalva called Zinke unfit for the job in an op-ed published by USA Today. Grijalva, who has been the U.S. Representative for Arizona’s 3rd congressional district since 2003, makes the case that Zinke’s “ethics scandals and management failures” make him unfit for office.

Based on the looks of his tweet, Secretary Zinke used the Notes app on his iPhone to thumb out his aggressive response. Right off the bat, he seems to allege that Grijalva is an alcoholic, then claims he used $50,000 of taxpayer dollars as “hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior.” Zinke says Grijalva should be forced to pay that money back, along with the fees his department spent on the investigation.

Grijalva writes that Zinke’s lack of response to allegations of misconduct in office, including conflict of interest, is an insult to those he serves, and the primary reason why Zinke should step down:

This silence is insulting to the American people, and given the Nov. 6 election results it is unsustainable. Continuing in office as though nothing has changed only shows how little Mr. Zinke has learned over the past year and a half. He holds his job as a public trust, not as a stepping stone to his further personal ambitions. He has abused that trust and damaged the Interior Department in the process. The least he can do is step down and give his successor a chance to begin reversing that damage.

Ironically, even in responding to the op-ed, Zinke fails to acknowledge any of the 17 probes launched against him and his department since he took office. As historian Kevin M.Kruse points out, Zinke’s response proves that he’s far from the sharpest knife in the drawer.

 
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