The Justice Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
If confirmed, the referral would be the second recent move by Ms. Kendall’s office to advance investigations into Mr. Zinke’s conduct.
This month, a report by Ms. Kendall’s office concluded that Mr. Zinke violated his agency’s travel policy by having his wife travel with him in government vehicles. That report also found that Mr. Zinke considered requesting that his wife become an Interior Department volunteer in order to legitimize her travel.
In addition, Mr. Zinke on one occasion asked his security detail to drive a person who was not a government employee to an airport, also in violation of agency policy, the report found.
Environmental activists have criticized Mr. Zinke as he has sought to scale back protections on public lands and open up vast new areas to oil and gas drilling.
Representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, who is poised to become chairman of the committee should Democrats gain a majority in the House in the midterm elections, said he was prepared to increase attention on the investigations into Mr. Zinke.
“If Democrats are given the opportunity to hold a congressional majority next year, Secretary Zinke will be called to testify in February on why his conduct in office merited referral to the Justice Department, whether that referral was related to the recent attempted firing of his inspector general, and his many other failures and scandals,” Mr. Grijalva said in a statement.
Mr. Grijalva was referring to reports that Mr. Zinke had sought to replace Ms. Kendall, a career official, as the Interior Department’s top watchdog, with a political appointee. In the end, Ms. Kendall remained in the job.
Lisa Friedman contributed reporting.
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