ETHICS/INTERIOR/RYAN ZINKE: “Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and his aides have taken several flights on private or military aircraft, including a $12,000 charter plane to take him to events in his hometown in Montana and private flights between two Caribbean islands, according to documents and a department spokeswoman.
Zinke is at least the fourth senior member of the Trump administration to have used non-commercial planes at taxpayer expense, along with EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and HHS Secretary Tom Price. President Donald Trump has fumed at Price’s pricey travel, and Democrats say the revelations demonstrate a cavalier attitude by Cabinet members toward excessive spending.
Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said Zinke’s charter or military plane trips were booked only after officials were unable to find commercial flights that would accommodate Zinke’s schedule, and that all were ‘pre-cleared by career officials in the ethics office.’ Swift said she had not spoken to Zinke about whether he would reimburse the government for the cost of the flights, as Price plans to do for some of the $400,000 tab he racked up on charter flights.”
-Ben Lefebvre, “Interior Secretary Zinke traveled on charter, military planes,” Politico, Sept. 28, 2017 07:54pm