Democrat wants info on Zinke’s ‘extravagant use of taxpayer funds’ for flights

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday, asking for more information on the privately chartered flights he took at taxpayer expense while in office, saying that the flights have created “the appearance of a serious conflict of interest.”

McCollum’s letter to Zinke comes in response to reports that the secretary has used three privately chartered flights and one flight in a military aircraft on government business since taking office, all of which Zinke dismissed on Friday as “a little BS on travel.” 

Zinke defended the expensive trips while speaking at the Heritage Foundation, saying that each of the privately chartered flights, including one late-night flight to his home in Montana that cost the department $12,000, were “only booked after extensive due diligence by the career professionals in the department’s general law and ethics division.” 

McCollum demands that Zinke provide Congress with the dates, costs and purposes for each of the flights no later than Oct. 11. The Democrat also asks Zinke to provide “justification” for using private flights instead of commercial, which Zinke has defended as being necessary to his official work. 

“Congress and the American people deserve an explanation for this extravagant use of taxpayer funds. Combined with similar reports of excessively expensive private travel by numerous senior Trump administration officials, there seems to be a disturbing pattern of limitless spending on noncommercial flights without reasonable justification,” McCollum said in a statement. 

Scrutiny over Zinke’s flights comes amid accusations of ethical breaches by several Trump administration officials who have taken costly trips in private planes at Americans’ expense.

President Trump is reported to have said he will make a decision Friday night on whether or not to fire Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, whose flights in military and private jets have cost the American taxpayer a combined $1 million on trips mixing government and personal business, according to the latest Politico reporting.

While Price has offered to pay back a portion of the costs incurred by his travel, Zinke has insisted that his travel has not breached any ethical guidelines and has made no such offer.