Ryan Zinke Denies Shaking Down Alaska Over Murkowski’s Trumpcare Vote (VIDEOS)



While the nation was rolling its eyes over Anthony Scaramucci’s X-rated commentary on his now-former White House colleagues, something even more outrageous may have slipped out of the news cycle. Just 48 hours before Scaramucci all but ended his all-too-brief tenure in the White House, Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska claimed to have received an alarming phone call from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

Sullivan claimed that Zinke dropped a very loud hint that Alaska was at risk of losing critical jobs and infrastructure because Sullivan’s Senate colleague, Lisa Murkowski, dared to vote against Trumpcare. He also recalled that Murkowski had gotten a similar message herself. Well, Zinke finally broke his silence on the matter over the weekend. Predictably, he denied making such a threat.

Zinke was asked about his conversations with Murkowski and Sullivan while he was in Bunkerville, Nevada as part of his tour of national monuments that are currently under review by his department. Watch here.

Near the tail end of an outdoor press conference, a reporter asked Zinke about the phone calls with Murkowski and Sullivan. Zinke said that he chatted with Murkowski and Sullivan “all the time”–which makes sense, since some 61 percent of Alaska’s land is controlled by the federal government. He claimed that he gets along “very well” with Alaska’s two Senators.


When the reporter pressed further, Zinke scoffed at any notion that he’d turned consigliere.

“The moon has been characterized as a threat, too, so I think it’s laughable.”

With all due respect, Mr. Secretary, this is not a laughing matter. If Sullivan is telling the truth, you engaged in behavior that is disturbing at best and potentially criminal at worst. Even if it doesn’t amount to extortion, threatening to pull jobs from a state just because you don’t vote the way the president wants you to vote sounds like something you’d see in the Third World.

Murkowski certainly doesn’t think it’s a laughing matter. Publicly, she merely characterized the call as “a difficult conversation.” Watch her discuss it here, via CBS News.

But she made her feelings known in a more meaningful way. As chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Murkowski has primary oversight responsibility over Zinke’s department. Her committee was slated to confirm a number of Interior nominees–but those votes have been delayed. According to David Hayes, the former Deputy Secretary of the Interior under President Obama, Murkowski was loudly reminding Zinke that “in many respects, she is his boss.”


Hopefully this won’t be the only way that Zinke has to pay for that call. Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee are pushing for a full investigation of those calls to Murkowski and Sullivan. If it turns out that Sullivan’s account is even half true, then there will be no defensible reason for Zinke to keep his job. And that would be true even if it wasn’t criminal.

(featured image courtesy Gage Skidmore, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.