WASHINGTON — In the ICYMI Department: U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is still beefing with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke over his “konnichiwa” greeting during a committee hearing two months ago.

This week Zinke, who’s an appointee of President Donald Trump, took to Breitbart News Daily for a radio interview, and defended his statement by saying he had “friends that were Japanese.”

(He also took advantage of the friendly environment to support Trump’s border wall and stick up for his push to shrink national monuments.)

The political news site, The Hill, reported on Zinke’s most recent “konnichiwa” statements, which again elicited strong responses from Hanabusa and others.

Here’s what Zinke had to say, according to The Hill:

“I grew up in a little logging, timber town, railroad town in Montana and a lot of my family lived through the years of the internment camps. I’ve long since had friends that were Japanese families that went through that,” Zinke told Breitbart Radio.

Zinke added that he thought it was an “appropriate greeting.”

“I’ve been to the Japanese War College at Etawah Jima and saying ‘konichiwa’ past ten o’clock as a greeting, I don’t think it’s any different than greeting anybody else in a language that’s respectful,” he said. “I grew up in Montana saying ‘good morning,’ saying ‘good afternoon.’ I think it’s an appropriate salute.”

Hanabusa, who’s running for governor in Hawaii, didn’t take kindly to Zinke doubling down on words that she and others found offensive.

.@SecretaryZinke continues to miss the point. This is racial stereotyping. Does he greet others in their ancestral language? This mentality led to a period in American history that saw 120,000 men, women and children, including my grandfathers, sent to internment camps after WWII https://t.co/a9VSZCgFOD

— Colleen Hanabusa (@RepHanabusa) May 29, 2018

We must never forget the injustice of Japanese internment. We can never again allow our country to imprison its people because of their ancestry, not because they committed a crime. We cannot allow racial stereotyping to be a part of policy making, ever again.

— Colleen Hanabusa (@RepHanabusa) May 29, 2018

I urge all Americans to ignore the divisive rhetoric and racial insensitivity of Trump’s administration. America is a nation of immigrants, defined by our diversity and we are stronger because of it.

— Colleen Hanabusa (@RepHanabusa) May 29, 2018

The controversy first bubbled up in March during a House Natural Resource Committee budget hearing in which Hanabusa questioned Zinke about grant money to preserve the history of Japanese-American internment during World War II.

The Trump administration had cut funds for the program in its 2018 budget, and Hanabusa, relaying a story about how her grandfather had been detained, wanted assurances from Zinke that the program that was funded in 2017 would not be eliminated.

“Would we see it funded again in 2018?” she asked.

“Oh, konnichiwa,” Zinke replied, using the Japanese term for “good afternoon.”

“I think it’s still ‘ohayo gozaimasu,’ but that’s OK,” Hanabusa responded, using the Japanese phrase for “good morning.”

The awkward exchange set off a cascade of criticism for Zinke from all corners of the internet, and particularly from Japanese-American lawmakers.

 Zinke’s latest comments seem likely to ensure that criticism will continue.

Thoughts on this or any other story? Write a Letter to the Editor. Send to news@civilbeat.org and put Letter in the subject line. 200 words max. You need to use your name and city and include a contact phone for verification purposes. And you can still comment on stories on our Facebook page.