(CNN) Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Friday morning labeled as a drunk the man who is expected to be his chief foe on Capitol Hill, an attack that echoes President Donald Trump's own name calling style and sets the stage for tense showdowns on Capitol Hill when Democrats take the House in January.

Zinke's tweet came in response to top Natural Resources Committee Democrat Rep. Raul Grijalva calling on the interior secretary to resign in a USA Today op-ed , citing Interior Department inspector general investigations, one of which was referred to the Justice Department.

In his response, Zinke did not address Grijalva's allegations but instead said that it was "hard for (Grijalva) to think straight from the bottom of the bottle."

"This is coming from a man who used nearly $50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behavior. He should resign and pay back the taxpayer for the hush money and tens of thousands of dollars he forced my department to spend investigating unfounded allegations," Zinke wrote in the tweet.

After Zinke's tweet, Grijalva responded through a statement from his office: "The American people know who I'm here to serve, and they know in whose interests I'm acting. They don't know the same about Secretary Zinke."

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