In the course of that work, inspector general investigators came to believe Zinke had lied to them, and they referred the matter to the Justice Department to consider whether any laws were violated, the people familiar with the matter said. The extent of its work is unclear, though the inspector general had questioned witnesses in an apparent attempt to scrutinize Zinke’s account, one of the people said. [Zinke’s own agency watchdog just referred him to the Justice Department]A spokesman for Zinke said Zinke voluntarily participated in two inspector general interviews about the Connecticut tribal matter and “to the best of his knowledge answered all questions truthfully.” The spokesman said Zinke had not been contacted by the Justice Department and that disclosures about the matter violated inspector general and Justice Department protocols. “I am confident that over the last 2 years, we have done that together for our public lands and the Department of the Interior.”A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. Interior’s inspector general has been probing that as a possible conflict of interest.

Source: Washington Post January 03, 2019 18:04 UTC