On Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump reportedly offered the position of secretary of the interior to Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Politico reported, citing two transition officials. The freshman congressman reportedly has not yet accepted Trump's offer, and it's not clear "as to which way he's leaning," Politico said. If Zinke were to accept, he would be in charge of managing federal lands and controlling offshore drilling.
Zinke has been a Trump supporter since last May, and he stuck with him throughout the entirety of his presidential campaign. However, Republicans are also rumored to be eyeing Zinke to run for the Montana Senate seat in 2018 against Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.
Trump and Zinke, a former Navy Seal commander, met Monday at Trump Tower. Zinke declined to comment to Politico about the alleged offer, and Trump's transition team did not immediately respond for comment.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Trump was also reported to be considering Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) to lead the Interior Department.
-
‘Chess’feature Imperial Theatre, New York City
-
Political cartoons for November 26Cartoons Wednesday's political cartoons include a peace deal for Ukraine, constitutional oaths, and the I.R.S. explained
-
Vaccine critic quietly named CDC’s No. 2 officialSpeed Read Dr. Ralph Abraham joins another prominent vaccine critic, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
