Trump administration defends $139,000 door for senior official

Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke 'agrees that this is a lot of money', spokeswoman says

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke steps from Air Force One (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

The Trump administration is yet again defending a senior official’s spending after it emerged the Department of the Interior spent nearly $139,000 (£100,246) on Secretary Ryan Zinke’s office door.

A purchase contract shows the Interior Department allocated $138,670 (£99,993) for what the document describes as “Secretary’s Door”.

Career officials ordered the door as “part of the decade-long modernization” of a building that dates to the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, according to a spokeswoman.

“The secretary was not aware of this contract but agrees that this is a lot of money for demo, install, materials, and labor”, spokeswoman Heather Swift said in a statement. “Between regulations that require historic preservation and outdated government procurement rules, the costs for everything from pencils to printing to doors is astronomical. This is a perfect example of why the Secretary believes we need to reform procurement processes”.

Spending decisions by Trump administration officials have repeatedly attracted public scrutiny.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson last week expressed surprise that a $31,000 (£23,800) dining set had been ordered for his office and said he would attempt to return it.

“I made it known that I was not happy about the prices being charged and that my preference would be to find something more reasonable”, Mr Carson said in a statement.

In a more momentous development, former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price stepped aside amid an uproar about his travel via costly chartered flights.

California Democrat Adam Schiff, a regular Trump administration antagonist, referenced those controversies in a tweet reacting to the Interior contract.

“What a waste”, Mr Schiff wrote. “Just think how many dining sets you could have bought or private jets you could have chartered with that money”.