Trump announces on Twitter latest RESIGNATION from his administration

The US president is losing one of the key figures supporting his plans to reshape the US’ environmental framework, Ryan Zinke. Mr Trump‘s short announcement didn’t provide details regarding the reasons behind the departure nor specified whether the secretary had been fired or chose to resign. The US president wrote: “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.

“The Trump Administration will be announcing the new Secretary of the Interior next week.”  

This departure comes as numerous ethics investigations into Mr Zinke’s business dealings, travel and policy decisions are underway, sparking fears the secretary may have violated ethics rules. 

Within the past months, Mr Zinke was involved in an examination of a real estate deal and a development group backed by the Halliburton chairman David J. Lesar. 

Mr Zinke has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

In an interview released in April, he said: “I followed every procedure, every policy, every rule, and most importantly I followed the law.” 

But as Democrats get ready to take over the House of Representatives after they won the majority of seats at the November’s midterm elections, Mr Zinke would have likely faced a subpoena for investigations if he retained his post. 

Democratic Party’s congressman Raul Grijalva had previously promised to compel Mr Zinke to testify about the accusations against him and to subpoena records related to the allegations. 

This sparked a bitter reply from Mr Zinke, who said: “It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle.

“This is coming from a man who used nearly $50,000 in tax dollars as hush money to cover up his drunken and hostile behaviour.” 

Mr Zinke’s claims referred to Mr Grijalva’s habit to frequent the Tune Inn, a Capitol Hill bar.  

The secretary has led numerous policies reviewing Washington’s position on environmental policies.  

He oversaw mineral extraction and conservation on roughly 500 million acres of public land and led the review of national monument protections. 

Mr Zinke’s leaving his position marks the 57th departure from the Trump administration since the US president sworn in on January 2017. 

Mr Trump has recently nominated William Barr to replace attorney general Jeff Sessions after the US president fired him on November 7. 

Yesterday, Mr Trump also named Mick Mulvaney as acting chief of staff to replace John Kelly.