Acting Department Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Chad Wolf, and Acting DHS Second-in-Command, Ken Cuccinelli, were Improperly Appointed to their Roles and are, as a Result, Legally Ineligible to Serve in their Positions, The Nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), a Government Watchdog determined, Friday August 14th.
The GAO, Congress' Independent Investigative Agency, Finding does Not Compel the Trump Administration to take Action, but it is Expected to bolster Ongoing Legal Challenges and Inspire New Litigation calling into Question the Validity of Policies crafted under the Leadership of the Two men, including several Sweeping Immigration Reforms.
The Issue with Wolf and Cuccinelli's Appointments can be Traced back to the Invalid Designation of Kevin McAleenan as Acting Homeland Security Secretary when Former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Resigned in April 2019, GAO says in its Report. The Appointment of McAleenan to that Role by President Trump did Not Follow Rules Governing the Succession of Officials in Positions that Require Senate Confirmation.
Trump has Repeatedly Sidestepped the Senate Confirmation Process to Install Acting Officials, particularly at DHS. While in his Role, McAleenan Altered the Order of Succession for other Officials to Succeed him. But because McAleenan was Improperly Appointed, the Alterations he made to the Order of Succession, which Allowed Trump to Appoint Wolf and Cuccinelli to their Positions, are also Invalid, GAO found.
"Because the incorrect official assumed the title of Acting Secretary at that time, subsequent amendments to the order of succession made by that official were invalid and officials who assumed their positions under such amendments, including Chad Wolf and Kenneth Cuccinelli, were named by reference to an invalid order of succession," Thomas Armstrong, General Counsel for GAO, said in the Report.
The Agency importantly did Not take a Position on whether or Not the Actions taken by Wolf and Cuccinelli while they were in their Roles were Legal, referring that Question instead to the DHS Inspector General. "We have not reviewed the legality of other actions taken by these officials; we are referring the matter to the Inspector General of DHS for review," the Report said.
A DHS Spokesperson said the Agency Rejects the Report's Findings. "We wholeheartedly disagree with the GAO’s baseless report," the Spokesperson said.
The Report's Findings are "further indication that this administration is willing to bend the law to install people at DHS who could never make it past Senate confirmation," says Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, Policy Counsel at the Nonprofit American Immigration Council.
While the Findings of the Report are Not Binding on the Trump Administration, the Opinion gives "strong persuasive authority to multiple legal challenges to policies signed off on by either Wolf or Cuccinelli," Reichlin-Melnick says. Court Cases could follow.
The GAO Investigation was Undertaken in Response to Inquiries from House Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Bennie Thompson (D-MS, 2nd District), and House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairwoman, Carolyn Maloney (D-NY, 12th District). Maloney and Thompson called on Cuccinelli and Wolf to Step Down from their Roles in a Statement following the Release of the Report.
"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," Thompson and Maloney said. "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."
Wolf recently Crafted a New memo making Sweeping Changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program after the Supreme Court Struck Down the Trump Administration's Attempt to End the Program.
Legal Challenges to those Changes lean in part on Charges that Wolf was Improperly Appointed to his Role. The GAO Report is Expected to Bolster that Argument.
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