Donald Trump said Saturday that his interior secretary will be leaving soon — the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the US president’s turnover-plagued administration. “Secretary of the Interior @RyanZinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years,” Trump wrote on Twitter, highlighting the fact that Zinke’s tenure was substantially longer than that of some other former top officials in the administration.

“Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation,” the president said, adding that a replacement would be announced next week.

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The announcement on Zinke came just a week after another impending high-profile departure — that of Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly — was made public.

Trump on Friday tapped Mick Mulvaney — the director of the Office of Management and Budget — to fill the chief of staff job on an acting basis, setting him up to be the third person to hold the post since the president took office in early 2017.

A series of other top officials have left the Trump White House, including a secretary of state, two national security advisors, an attorney general and the head of the US environment agency.

Zinke is one of several members of Trump’s cabinet to come under fire over expenditures, including reports that his department was spending nearly USD 139,000 to upgrade three sets of double doors in his office — a cost he later said he negotiated down to USD 75,000.

He has also faced criticism over costly US Park Police helicopter flights last year that allowed him to return to Washington for a horseback ride with Vice President Mike Pence, and several other flights on non-commercial aircraft.</s>Washington: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who is facing federal investigations into his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest, will leave the administration at year's end, President Donald Trump said on Saturday.

Trump, in tweeting Zinke's departure, said the former Montana congressman "accomplished much during his tenure" and that a replacement would be announced next week. The Cabinet post requires Senate confirmation.

Zinke is leaving weeks before Democrats take control of the House, a shift in power that promised to intensify probes into his conduct. His departure comes amid a staff shake-up as Trump heads into his third year in office. The president on Friday named White House budget director Mick Mulvaney as his next chief of staff.

Zinke, 57, played a leading part in Trump's efforts to roll back environmental regulations and promote domestic energy development. When he recently travelled to survey damage from California's wildfires, Zinke echoed Trump's claims that lax forest management was to blame in the devastation.</s>Donald Trump said Saturday that his interior secretary will be leaving soon -- the latest in a series of high-profile departures from an administration beset by turnover and alleged ethical failings.

“Secretary of the Interior @RyanZinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years,” Trump wrote on Twitter, highlighting the fact that Zinke’s tenure was substantially longer than that of some other former top officials in the administration.

“Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation,” the president said, adding that a replacement would be announced next week.

The interior secretary is responsible for overseeing conservation and mineral extraction on public land that, if stitched together, would be larger than Mexico.

But Zinke has been the target of a number of ethics investigations, making him a lightning rod for complaints from Democrats, who expressed no regrets over his impending departure.

“Ryan Zinke was one of the most toxic members of the cabinet in the way he treated our environment, our precious public lands, and the way he treated the govt like it was his personal honey pot,” said Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.

“The swamp cabinet will be a little less foul without him.”

Zinke, a former Montana congressman, was the subject of various investigations linked to his real estate holdings in his home state and his actions in office.

Along with Trump’s first environmental protection chief Scott Pruitt -- who resigned in July amid a series of scandals over ethical lapses and lavish spending -- Zinke helped spearhead a presidential push to sharply relax environmental regulations and expand energy production.

The Zinke announcement came just a week after another impending high-profile departure -- that of Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly -- was made public.

Trump on Friday tapped Mick Mulvaney -- the director of the Office of Management and Budget -- to serve as chief of staff on an acting basis, setting him up to be the third person to hold the post since the president took office in early 2017.

A series of other top officials have left the Trump White House, including a secretary of state, two national security advisors and an attorney general, as well as Pruitt.

Zinke is one of several members of Trump’s cabinet to come under fire over expenditures, including reports that his department was spending nearly $139,000 to upgrade three sets of double doors in his office -- a cost he later said he negotiated down to $75,000.

He had been the subject of some 15 investigations, including one for allowing his wife to ride in government vehicles and another for taking a security detail with him on a vacation trip to Turkey, according to The Washington Post.

He has also faced criticism over costly US Park Police helicopter flights last year that allowed him to return to Washington for a horseback ride with Vice President Mike Pence, and several other flights on non-commercial aircraft.

Zinke, a former Navy SEAL who wore cowboy boots to the office and carried himself with a Western swagger, seemed to emulate Trump when under fire, lashing back rather than retreating.

Last month, when a Democratic congressman said it was time for new leadership at the Interior Department, Zinke suggested in a tweet that his critic had a drinking problem.

“It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle,” he wrote, a comment that many in Washington thought crossed a line.</s>“The Trump administration will be announcing the new secretary of the Interior next week,” Trump said on Twitter.

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Zinke has come under scrutiny for his use of security details, chartered flights and a real estate deal. The Interior Department’s inspector general initiated at least seven investigations against Zinke, while another federal investigative agency opened as many as six other inquiries into Zinke’s behaviour, Bloomberg reported.

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Having formerly served as a Navy SEAL and as a Montana congressman, Zinke became known in the administration for championing “United States energy dominance,” aligning himself with Trump’s energy agenda, Bloomberg continues.

READ MORE: Trump’s new chief of staff is a Tea Party man who lobbied for a job ‘no one wanted,’ reports say

The departure follows Trump’s announcement on Dec. 8 that Chief of Staff John Kelly would be leaving at the end of this year, as well, adding another White House staffer to the administration’s long string of departures.

Trump announced Friday that former budget head Mike Mulvaney would be replacing Kelly upon his departure.</s>WASHINGTON: Donald Trump said Saturday that his interior secretary will be leaving soon — the latest in a series of high-profile departures from an administration beset by turnover and alleged ethical failings.

“Secretary of the Interior @RyanZinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years,” Trump wrote on Twitter, highlighting the fact that Zinke’s tenure was substantially longer than that of some other former top officials in the administration.

“Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation,” the president said, adding that a replacement would be announced next week.

The interior secretary is responsible for overseeing conservation and mineral extraction on public land that, if stitched together, would be larger than Mexico.

But Zinke has been the target of a number of ethics investigations, making him a lightning rod for complaints from Democrats, who expressed no regrets over his impending departure.

“Ryan Zinke was one of the most toxic members of the cabinet in the way he treated our environment, our precious public lands, and the way he treated the govt like it was his personal honey pot,” said Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.

“The swamp cabinet will be a little less foul without him.”

Zinke, a former Montana congressman, was the subject of various investigations linked to his real estate holdings in his home state and his actions in office.

Along with Trump’s first environmental protection chief Scott Pruitt — who resigned in July amid a series of scandals over ethical lapses and lavish spending — Zinke helped spearhead a presidential push to sharply relax environmental regulations and expand energy production.

The Zinke announcement came just a week after another impending high-profile departure — that of Trump’s chief of staff John Kelly — was made public.

Trump on Friday tapped Mick Mulvaney — the director of the Office of Management and Budget — to serve as chief of staff on an acting basis, setting him up to be the third person to hold the post since the president took office in early 2017.

A series of other top officials have left the Trump White House, including a secretary of state, two national security advisors and an attorney general, as well as Pruitt.

Zinke is one of several members of Trump’s cabinet to come under fire over expenditures, including reports that his department was spending nearly $139,000 to upgrade three sets of double doors in his office — a cost he later said he negotiated down to $75,000.

He had been the subject of some 15 investigations, including one for allowing his wife to ride in government vehicles and another for taking a security detail with him on a vacation trip to Turkey, according to The Washington Post.

He has also faced criticism over costly US Park Police helicopter flights last year that allowed him to return to Washington for a horseback ride with Vice President Mike Pence, and several other flights on non-commercial aircraft.

Zinke, a former Navy SEAL who wore cowboy boots to the office and carried himself with a Western swagger, seemed to emulate Trump when under fire, lashing back rather than retreating.

Last month, when a Democratic congressman said it was time for new leadership at the Interior Department, Zinke suggested in a tweet that his critic had a drinking problem.

“It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle,” he wrote, a comment that many in Washington thought crossed a line.</s>WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (ZIN’-kee), who’s facing federal investigations into his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest, will leave the administration at year’s end.

Trump tweets that Zinke “accomplished much during his tenure” and that a replacement would be announced next week. The Cabinet post requires Senate confirmation.

Zinke, a former Republican congressman from Montana, is leaving weeks before Democrats take control of the House, a shift in power that promised to intensify probes into his conduct.

Zinke played a leading part in Trump’s efforts to roll back environmental regulations and promote domestic energy development.

His departure comes amid a staff shake-up as Trump heads into his third year in office. The president on Friday named budget director Mick Mulvaney as chief of staff</s>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who has aggressively sought to roll back Obama-era environmental protections, will be leaving his post at the end of the year, President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday, the latest high-profile departure from his administration.

Trump did not give a reason for Zinke’s departure. However, the former Navy Seal and ex-congressman from Montana has faced scrutiny of his use of security details, chartered flights and a real estate deal.

“Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation,” Trump said on Twitter. “The Trump administration will be announcing the new secretary of the Interior next week.”

Zinke has run the Interior Department, which oversees America’s vast public lands, since early 2017. He has aggressively pursued Trump’s agenda to promote oil drilling and coal mining by expanding federal leasing, cutting royalty rates, and easing land protections despite environmental protests.

Zinke, 51, was among Trump’s most active Cabinet members, cutting huge wilderness national monuments in Utah to a fraction of their size and proposing offshore oil drilling in the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic. He became a darling of the U.S. energy and mining industries and a prime target for conservationists and environmental groups.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer welcomed Zinke’s departure in a tweet: “Ryan Zinke was one of the most toxic members of the cabinet in the way he treated our environment, our precious public lands, and the way he treated the govt like it was his personal honey pot.”

“The swamp cabinet will be a little less foul without him,” Schumer said.

Jamie Williams, president of the non-profit Wilderness Society, said he expects Zinke’s deputy and likely successor, David Bernhardt, to continue with the “drill everywhere” agenda.

“Deputy Secretary Bernhardt has made it his mission to stifle climate science and silence the public so polluters can profit,” said Williams. “Unfortunately, even with Secretary Zinke out, the Interior Department remains disturbingly biased in favor of special interests over the health of American communities and the public lands that they love.”

Critics have questioned Zinke’s ethics and some of his moves triggered government investigations.

In July, the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General began investigating a Montana land deal between a foundation Zinke set up and a development group backed by the chairman of oil service company Halliburton Co, which has business with the Interior Department.

In late October, that investigation was referred to the U.S. Justice Department for a possible criminal investigation, according to multiple media reports. The Department of Justice and the Interior Department have declined to comment.

There are two other investigations of Zinke’s conduct. Interior’s watchdog is examining whether the department purposely redrew the boundaries of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to benefit a state lawmaker who owns adjoining property.

It is also probing Zinke’s decision to block casinos proposed by two Connecticut Native American tribes. Critics allege he made that move, overruling his staff’s recommendation, shortly after he met with lobbyists for MGM Resorts International, which owns a new casino in the region.

Zinke has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

Earlier this year, Interior’s inspector general wrapped up two other investigations related to Zinke’s travel expenses. Those probes found that a $12,000 private flight he took after a meeting with a professional hockey team could have been avoided and that the security detail he took on a family vacation to Greece and Turkey cost taxpayers $25,000.

US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke arrives at the US Capitol prior to the service for former President George H. W. Bush in Washington, DC, USA, 03 December 2018. Shawn Thew/Pool via REUTERS

Trump, who has repeatedly praised Zinke, said on Nov. 5 that he would look at the allegations.

Zinke’s departure makes him the ninth Cabinet-level official to leave since Trump took office two years ago. Other departures have included Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt.</s>Secretary of the Interior @RyanZinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years. Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation....... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 15, 2018

President Donald Trump says Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who's facing federal investigations into his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest, will leave the administration at year's end.Trump tweets that Zinke "accomplished much during his tenure" and that a replacement would be announced next week. The Cabinet post requires Senate confirmation.Zinke, a former Republican congressman from Montana, is leaving weeks before Democrats take control of the House, a shift in power that promised to intensify probes into his conduct.Zinke played a leading part in Trump's efforts to roll back environmental regulations and promote domestic energy development.His departure comes amid a staff shake-up as Trump heads into his third year in office. The president on Friday named budget director Mick Mulvaney as chief of staff.</s>A replacement to Ryan Zinke will be announced next week, says President Donald Trump

WASHINGTON DC, USA – Donald Trump said Saturday, December 15, that his interior secretary will be leaving soon – the latest in a series of high-profile departures from the US president's turnover-plagued administration.

"Secretary of the Interior @RyanZinke will be leaving the Administration at the end of the year after having served for a period of almost two years," Trump wrote on Twitter, highlighting the fact that Zinke's tenure was substantially longer than that of some other former top officials in the administration.

"Ryan has accomplished much during his tenure and I want to thank him for his service to our Nation," the president said, adding that a replacement would be announced next week.

The announcement on Zinke came just a week after another impending high-profile departure – that of Trump's chief of staff John Kelly – was made public.

Trump on Friday, December 14, tapped Mick Mulvaney – the director of the Office of Management and Budget – to fill the chief of staff job on an acting basis, setting him up to be the third person to hold the post since the president took office in early 2017.

A series of other top officials have left the Trump White House, including a secretary of state, two national security advisors, an attorney general and the head of the US environment agency.

Zinke is one of several members of Trump's cabinet to come under fire over expenditures, including reports that his department was spending nearly $139,000 to upgrade 3 sets of double doors in his office – a cost he later said he negotiated down to $75,000.

He has also faced criticism over costly US Park Police helicopter flights last year that allowed him to return to Washington for a horseback ride with Vice President Mike Pence, and several other flights on non-commercial aircraft. – Rappler.com</s>Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who is facing federal investigations into his travel, political activity and potential conflicts of interest, will leave the administration at year's end, President Donald Trump said Saturday.

Trump, in tweeting Zinke's departure, said the former Montana congressman "accomplished much during his tenure" and that a replacement would be announced next week. The Cabinet post requires Senate confirmation.

Zinke is leaving weeks before Democrats take control of the House, a shift in power that promised to intensify probes into his conduct. His departure comes amid a staff shake-up as Trump heads into his third year in office. The president on Friday named White House budget director Mick Mulvaney as his next chief of staff

Zinke, 57, played a leading part in Trump's efforts to roll back environmental regulations and promote domestic energy development. When he recently traveling to survey damage from California's wildfires, Zinke echoed Trump claims that lax forest management was to blame in the devastation.

He pushed to develop oil, natural gas and coal beneath public lands in line with the administration's business-friendly aims. But Zinke has been dogged by ethics probes, including one centered on a Montana land deal involving a foundation he created and the chairman of an energy services company that does business with the Interior Department.

Investigators also are reviewing Zinke's decision to block two tribes from opening a casino in Connecticut and his redrawing of boundaries to shrink a Utah national monument.

The Associated Press reported last month that the department's internal watchdog had referred an investigation of Zinke to the Justice Department.

Trump told reporters this fall he was evaluating Zinke's future in the administration in light of the allegations.

Asked by reporters last month whether he might fire Zinke, Trump said, "No, I'm going to look into any complaints."

Zinke in November denied he already was hunting for his next job.

"I enjoy working for the president," he told a Montana radio station. "Now, If you do your job, he supports you."

"I think I'm probably going to be the commander of space command," Zinke said. "How's that one?"

Zinke had a memorable administration debut when he rode a bay roan gelding to his first day of work in March 2017.
U.S. President Donald Trump tweets that Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will quit his post at the end of the year.