Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has not said whether he continued holding discussions with developers, who are pursuing a multi-use project in his hometown of Whitefish, after becoming a member of the Cabinet. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images Zinke's Halliburton mess deepens The Interior secretary and the energy company's chairman met in his office and over dinner last year for a discussion that included a Montana real estate project.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke met at department headquarters in August with Halliburton Chairman David Lesar and other developers involved in a Montana real estate deal that relied on help from a foundation Zinke established, according to a participant in the meeting and records cited by House Democrats late Thursday.

Zinke, Lesar and the others later discussed the development project over dinner that night, the participant in the meeting confirmed to POLITICO.


The new details raise further questions about Zinke's involvement in the project, and whether his conversations with the developers — especially in Interior's office — violated federal conflict of interest laws given Halliburton’s extensive business before this department. POLITICO reported Tuesday that a foundation Zinke established a decade ago agreed to let the Lesar-backed development build a parking lot on foundation land.

Zinke has told POLITICO that he was no longer involved in the foundation’s operations since becoming secretary in March 2017, and that has he “resigned as president and board member” of the foundation when he joined President Donald Trump's Cabinet. But he has not said whether he continued holding discussions with the developers, who are pursuing a multi-use project in his hometown of Whitefish.

Zinke was scheduled to meet at the Interior Department with Lesar and his son and lead project developer Casey Malmquist on Aug. 3, according to an email from his scheduler cited by the House Democrats. About six weeks later, he received an email from Malmquist with plans for the development, which is expected to include shops and a microbrewery — a project initially proposed by Zinke more than five years ago.

A week after Zinke received Malmquist’s email, Zinke's wife, Lola, signed a letter of intent in her role as president of the foundation agreeing to let the developers use its land.

“Ryan — our development plan and your park project are an absolute grand slam,” Malmquist wrote in one email to Zinke released via the Freedom of Information Act. “I have never been more excited about a development as I am about this one.”

Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona and other Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee wrote to the inspector general's office that the email and meeting with Malmquist and the Lesars raise "troubling questions about whether Secretary Zinke has used federal resources and his position as Secretary of the Interior for personal financial gain and whether he or other DOI staff is actively trying to cover it up.”

“The American people must be able to trust that Department of the Interior decisions that affect the nation’s welfare on a daily basis are not compromised by individual self-enrichment,” they wrote. “We urge you to investigate the contents of the Politico report and the legal and professional questions raised here at your earliest convenience.”

The Interior Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Zinke received a private message from his scheduling assistant setting up the 4:30 p.m. meeting on Aug. 3, the Democrats said, citing communications released via the Freedom of Information Act. Zinke’s official calendar blocks out a 90-minute meeting starting at 4:30 p.m. that day, but does not disclose who he met, only marking it as “HOLD.” After the meeting, Zinke conducted a tour at the Lincoln Memorial and had his staff reserve a table for four at a the Biergarten Haus restaurant in Washington, according to the calendar.

The real estate development, known as 95 Karrow, is likely to increase property values in the area where the Zinkes own multiple parcels, and could put the secretary's family in the position of benefiting financially from investments made by Lesar. Halliburton stands to benefit from many aspects of the Trump administration's energy agenda that Zinke oversees, including expanded opportunities for offshore drilling and relaxed regulations on fracking on public lands.

Malmquist confirmed he, Zinke and the others met at Zinke’s office, but said they talked only about the Interior Department. “We met in office and discussed history of the DOI [and] discussed 95 Karrow at dinner," he wrote in an email to POLITICO. "Ryan led us on a tour of the Lincoln Memorial with a group — went to dinner after and talked about 95 Karrow."

Ethics analysts have said Zinke, with his wife serving as the nonprofit’s head, may not be removed enough from its actions to ward off an appearance of conflict of interest.

Zinke said he resigned his position from the foundation upon becoming secretary, but he was still listed in its annual report filed with the state of Montana until the foundation filed an amended report Tuesday.

Chris Saeger, executive director of the public lands advocacy group the Western Values Project, said Zinke’s ties to the development project call for an investigation.

"Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire, and the only way to find out for sure is an independent investigation,” Saeger said. “Secretary Zinke is a steward of our public lands, and if he's abusing this position to help his big oil buddies to enrich himself and his family at the expense of taxpayers, he needs to be held accountable."