The Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is an independent watchdog agency in the federal government, has concluded that two currently serving top Trump goons were appointed illegally. The goons in question are Chad Wolf, who is the current acting Secretary of Homeland Security, and Ken Cuccinelli, who is currently serving in the department’s number two role, as the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. (He also serves as the acting chief of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, but it’s his other Department of Homeland Security role that the GAO’s new report covers.)
BREAKING: Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf (and Ken Cucinelli) are ineligible to be serving in their current roles because they were appointed illegally, the GAO rules. https://t.co/vArKU3fanr pic.twitter.com/KWTie460Vg
— Harry Cramer (@HarrisonCramer) August 14, 2020
The GAO concluded that they are improperly in their roles in light of their concurrent conclusion that Wolf’s predecessor, Kevin McAleenan, improperly assumed the role of acting Secretary of Homeland Security after the resignation of the last Senate-confirmed individual to serve in the role, Kirstjen Nielsen. He circumvented the established order of succession at the department when he assumed the position. Thus, the changes to the order of succession that he made to pave the way for Wolf and Cuccinelli to serve in the top two department roles are themselves invalid, the GAO concluded.
America’s Voice’s Ur Jaddou, who actually worked at USCIS in the Obama era, explained to Axios that the GAO’s report “could be important evidence in litigation over policies enacted under Wolf and Cuccinelli’s leadership,” as the outlet summarizes. The Government Accountability Office has referred the case to the inspector general overseeing the Department of Homeland Security for further review, including on the question of “the legality of other actions taken by these officials.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Axios that they “wholeheartedly disagree with the GAO’s baseless report and plan to issue a formal response to this shortly,” but it’s not as though they can simply wish the relevant legislation out of existence.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who are the chairpersons of the House Homeland Security and Oversight Committees, respectively, are the ones who first requested the review from the GAO. On Friday, they said:
‘GAO’s damning opinion paints a disturbing picture of the Trump Administration playing fast and loose by bypassing the Senate confirmation process to install ideologues. In its haste to circumvent Congress’s constitutional role in confirming the government’s top officials to deliver on the President’s radical agenda, the Administration violated the Department’s order of succession, as required by law.’
The leaders also insisted that Wolf and Cuccinelli should both step aside from the top leadership roles at the department. As they put it:
‘In light of this decision, Mr. Wolf should immediately step down and return to his Senate-confirmed position as Under Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Plans… As for Mr. Cuccinelli, a political pundit plucked by the President to serve in multiple senior roles at DHS for which he is woefully unqualified, he should immediately resign from the Federal government and retire his unprofessional official Twitter account.’
The next steps in the situation are unclear; the GAO’s conclusion is not legally binding, but as CNN notes, there are “pending [court] cases challenging the appointments of Wolf and Cuccinelli.”
