Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke ended his affiliation with SEAL PAC, which was formed before his November 2014 election to Montana's congressional seat, to join Trump's Cabinet in March 2017. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images FEC increases scrutiny of Zinke’s former PAC

The Federal Election Commission is asking a leadership PAC previously affiliated with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to account for more than $600,000 of previously unreported contributions from the first six months of 2017.

For most of the period in question, the committee, SEAL PAC, was overseen by Vincent DeVito, who is now a top aide to Zinke at the Interior Department, and this is the second time federal regulators have looked into discrepancies during his tenure. Zinke launched SEAL PAC when he was elected to Congress in 2014 and disaffiliated himself from the group after being selected to join President Donald Trump's Cabinet; DeVito was listed as the group's treasurer until May, when he too joined the administration.


An Interior Department spokeswoman referred questions to the PAC. DeVito and SEAL PAC's current treasurer did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

The $600,000 discrepancy is large enough that the FEC will almost certainly launch a more thorough investigation, said Brett Kappel, a partner at Akerman LLP and expert in campaign finance law.

“Discrepancies of more than $100,000 in a PAC’s contributions or expenditures are generally referred to the FEC’s Enforcement Division for an investigation,” Kappel said.

SEAL PAC in January filed an amended FEC report that showed it raised just over $1 million over the first six months of the prior year — an increase of $607,776 compared with its original report on the first half of 2017. About 90 percent of that increase came from donors who gave less than $200 apiece and did not have to disclose their names.

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In a letter Sunday, the FEC asked SEAL PAC to "provide clarifying information as to why this activity was not disclosed on your original report." The FEC asked for a reply by May 7.

This is the second time in recent months the FEC has asked SEAL PAC about a discrepancy in its books while DeVito was treasurer. In November, regulators asked the PAC to account for $200,000 in cash on hand that suddenly appeared on its books between Dec. 31, 2016, and Jan. 1, 2017.

In a separate letter Sunday, the FEC asked for more information on 20 donors whose employment information it deemed inadequate on SEAL PAC's campaign finance report covering the second half of 2017, after DeVito had left the group.

Zinke formed SEAL PAC days before his November 2014 election to Montana’s lone congressional seat. He ended his affiliation with it to join Trump's Cabinet in March 2017. DeVito is now counselor to the secretary for energy policy, a newly created advisory position, and also running the department’s energy royalty policy committee.

During Zinke’s and DeVito's time with SEAL PAC, the group raised most of its money from small-dollar donors and funneled it back to a handful of D.C.-based political operatives who have drawn criticism from other GOP candidates. That made it unusual among leadership PACs, which typically rely on large contributions and spread donations among allied politicians.

More recently, government watchdog group Campaign Legal Center in February called on the FEC to investigate Zinke’s appearance at a March 2017 fundraiser in the Virgin Islands for a separate PAC connected to many of the same operatives. The money raised at the event has still not shown up in campaign finance filings. An FEC spokesman said he could not comment on whether an investigation into the fundraiser was underway.

