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WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior’s inspector general has launched a new investigation into one or more political appointees at the agency, a move it described as a “related investigation” to a federal probe into the ethics practices of the agency’s secretary, David Bernhardt.

Mary L. Kendall, the Interior Department’s deputy inspector general, confirmed the investigation in an April 18 letter sent to the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan watchdog group that had issued a complaint against several agency officials. The inquiry will examine “potential ethics violations committed by multiple Department of Interior senior executives,” Ms. Kendall wrote.

The Campaign Legal Center complaint alleges that senior members of the Interior Department “repeatedly violated revolving door ethics prohibitions” by offering agency access to former employers or lobbying clients.

Faith Vander Voort, an Interior Department spokeswoman, said in a statement that the secretary’s office is reviewing the complaint.