Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday called for acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and acting Deputy Ken Cuccinelli to step down after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded they had been appointed invalidly to their posts.
“President Trump’s efforts to install political sycophants to implement his extreme policies in an end run around the law and Senate have finally caught up with him,” Schumer said.
GAO FINDS ACTING DHS CHIEF WOLF, DEPUTY CUCCINELLI INVALIDLY APPOINTED TO POSTS
“The determination by an independent congressional watchdog today invalidates actions Mr. Cuccinelli and Mr. Wolf have taken and both should immediately step down from their illegal roles,” he said.
The GAO said Friday that the appointments of Wolf and Cuccinelli were made invalidly due to errors made by officials about the line of succession for filling posts in an acting capacity.
It said that when then-DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in April 2019, the order of succession dictated that the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) should take over. Instead, President Trump appointed Kevin McAleenan — who was then the head of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
McAleenan subsequently revised the process — allowing Wolf and Cuccinelli to be appointed to their posts. But, the GAO found, because McAleenan was invalidly appointed, so were the changes he made to the order of succession.
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“As such, Mr. McAleenan did not have the authority to amend the Secretary’s existing designation. Accordingly, Messrs. Wolf and Cuccinelli were named to their respective positions of Acting Secretary and Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary by reference to an invalid order of succession,” it said.
The opinion is not legally binding, but could raise questions about the legality of decisions made during Wolf and Cuccinelli’s time in office. Schumer and other Democrats have opposed a number of moves made by DHS, particularly its tough stance on illegal immigration and its use of federal law enforcement to protect federal property in cities such as Portland.
“We wholeheartedly disagree with the GAO’s baseless report and plan to issue a formal response to this shortly,” a DHS spokesperson told 360aproko News.
GAO said it was not reviewing the legality of the actions taken by the officials and is instead referring it to the department’s inspector general. Schumer too said he wants the IG to investigate — including decisions made by Wolf and Cuccinelli.
“The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General must launch a top to bottom legal review of every decision made by Mr. Cuccinelli and Mr. Wolf during their tenures and report his findings to the public and to Congress,” he said.
