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The inspector general concluded Zinke did not comply with obligations in his ethics agreement, recusal memorandum and accompanying documents. The investigation determined Zinke made “inaccurate and incomplete statements” when discussing his involvement in foundation-related matters because he had “extensive and in-depth involvement with the 95 Karrow project developers” in the months after he resigned as president of the foundation and from its board.

But the investigation did not find evidence that Zinke violated formal conflicts of interest laws or that Interior granted Halliburton any specific favors. The inspector general referred its findings to the Justice Department, which last year declined to prosecute, and is now providing its report to the current secretary for “any action deemed appropriate,” according to the report. An Interior Department spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

Zinke is now running to represent Montana in Congress despite spending much of his time in California. He’s attracted competition in the Republican primary and has had to field questions on other issues that arose during his time at Interior, including questions over how a small, unknown company in his home town of Whitefish, Mont., ended up with a $300 million contract to help repair the electric grid in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Zinke has said he has no connection to the company.

Zinke, his wife — who was listed as the foundation’s president after Zinke’s resignation — and the 95 Karrow project developers declined the inspector general’s interview requests, but the inspector general subpoenaed the developer’s emails and text messages related to the project.

“Emails and text messages the developers produced showed that Secretary Zinke continued to be involved in Foundation matters while he was Secretary of the Interior, even after resigning from the Foundation and committing in required documentation to relevant Federal officials that he would no longer manage or provide services to the Foundation,” the report states. “Specifically, the communications showed that Secretary Zinke repeatedly communicated with the developers of the 95 Karrow project and negotiated with them on behalf of the Foundation by discussing the use of Foundation property for the project, specific design aspects of the project, and the development of a microbrewery on the property.”

Zinke also had Interior employees do work for the foundation — the Great Northern Veterans Peace Park — and help with negotiations over the commercial development, the report stated. But the inspector general did not find evidence to support allegations that his staff actively tried to conceal his involvement in foundation matters or the 95 Karrow project.

Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, resigned from Interior in December 2018 after running through a series of scandals that also involved him using government helicopters to attend political events — including horseback riding with then-Vice President Mike Pence — and his funneling money to questionable PACs. A spokesperson from Zinke’s campaign did not rebut the report’s findings but defended the Zinke family’s operation of the vacant lot.

“Only in Biden’s corrupt administration is talking to one’s neighbor about the town’s public meetings and history of the land a sin,” the campaign spokesperson wrote in an email to POLITICO.

Locals in the area had told POLITICO that running a microbrewery had been a long-held goal of Zinke, who already ran a bed-and-breakfast and rental properties in Whitefish not far from where the commercial development would have taken place. In an email cited in the report, one developer tells another Zinke “is also asking for an exclusive right to produce alcohol on 95 Karrow and the Peace Park. In essence, he is leveraging the parking and snow storage for the Brewery lot and legal access to his site. In my opinion this is a big ask.”

The same developer followed up in a September 2017 email saying, “If we can get by the county/city thing in some way, get him his brewery site, and he is able to pay for the development and maintenance of the park at a standard we impose and all agree upon, it might be a path through this.”

Emails from Zinke to the developers included in the report show Zinke taking an active hand in negotiating the use of the foundation’s property to benefit the development of a commercial district, including his telling one developer of his plans to be in Whitefish when “it may be a good idea to walk the property.”

Zinke did not include his wife in the back-and-forth, despite her being listed as the head of the foundation whose land was being discussed, the report said. Even so, Zinke sought to hide his role in the discussions when a news reporter started asking questions, according to an email cited in the report.

“[The news organization] is not our friend,” Zinke wrote in an April 2018 text message to a developer whose name was retracted in the report after the developer told Zinke he had been contacted by a reporter. “Zinke has resigned from the park and has turned all decisions over to the board. We are working with the board in the best interest of the community that we love.”

The report’s findings that Zinke violated ethics rules to pursue a personal project could come to haunt Zinke as he runs for Congress, said Barrett Kaiser, partner in Hilltop Public Solutions, a campaign management firm that generally backs Democrats. Even if Zinke pulls through the Republican primary in June, the report findings could fuel another wave of opposition ads just in time for the November general election, Kaiser said.

“That’s exactly what brought Conrad Burns down,” said Kaiser, who is based in Montana, said in an interview, speaking of public corruption scandals while referring to the Montana Republican senator who lost his bid for a fourth term after being linked to scandal-plagued lobbyist Jack Abramoff. “Montanas by and large are sick and tired of politicians abusing their offices. It’s one of the things that Montanans bristle about the most.”

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