Huffington Post smears Ryan Zinke with fake charge

The fake news media took another scalp this week, er, I mean, they distorted another story in order to smear the Trump administration.

What else is new, right?

This time it was Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s turn in the barrel. Oh wait, he’s already had his turn in the barrel. Oh wait, multiple turns.

There was the fake story about Zinke’s role (none) in getting Whitefish Energy a contract restoring power to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. There was the fake story about Zinke’s campaign selling an RV to a Montana politician at a discounted rate (anyone ever heard of depreciation?) There was the fake story about Zinke flying from Las Vegas to his hometown of Whitefish, Montana, aboard a charter flight so that he could attend a meeting of the Western Governors Association hosted by Montana’s Gov. Steve Bullock.

It’s no accident that Zinke has been a favorite target of the left-wing media for their fake scandal-mongering. Rather, it’s because the interior secretary has been one of Trump’s most effective surrogates — throwing out harmful regulations, rolling back politically motivated programs, cutting staff and moving programs out of D.C. It’s all been very scary for the Swamp Monsters.

But the latest attack on Zinke may be the lowest blow yet.

The Huffington Post broke the news Monday that “Zinke held onto undisclosed shares” in Proof Research, a Whitefish-based company that specializes in production of lightweight rifles using carbon fiber technology.

The story began with this announcement: “Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is a shareholder in a private Montana company that manufactures and sells firearms and advanced weapons materials, a financial interest he did not disclose when nominated last year.”

It is not until seven paragraphs later that the Huffington Post author, Ital Vardi, reveals that the shares held by Zinke are worth so little that they were exempted from disclosure, which isn’t required until the value hits (wait for it!) $1,000.

Turns out that Zinke’s 1,000 shares (out of nearly 57 million outstanding) are worth somewhere between $250 and $850. That’s not $250 each. It’s $250 for all of ’em. Yep, a quarter per share.

In other words, Zinke didn’t do anything wrong. Oh wait. He met with Proof Research executives for a few minutes on April 11, 2017, for what his calendar called a “Brief Update of Proof Research.” To the Huffington Post, that is evidence of skullduggery and “questions of access.”

To the rest of us, it is evidence that Zinke is supporting a local business that provides local jobs. And what the Huffington Post does in stories like this is more evidence (as if we needed it) that the fake news media doesn’t care about the facts — just the headlines insinuating (in this case, falsely) that conservatives are corrupt.

Who needs a real scandal when you can just invent one?