The inspector general’s office for the U.S. Interior Department has dropped its inquiry into whether the Interior secretary threatened to retaliate against Sen. Lisa Murkowski for voting against proceeding on a health care reform bill.
A letter from the inspector general’s office said Alaska’s U.S. senators declined to discuss the matter with investigators and further investigation would be pointless.
Nancy DiPaolo, director of external affairs for the inspector general, says the office has no jurisdiction over Congress and she says investigators didn’t ask Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke what he told the senators in a pair of phone calls in late July.
“We thought it’d been in the press and because neither senator felt any need to pursue it,” she said.
