GAO: Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf & Ken Cucinelli Were Appointed Illegally-Ineligible to serve

[kpete]

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://drive.google.com/file/d/1BCR-YlonpVGhuqCAbIAsFN6DNt7w-h5n/view

Link to tweet

?s=20

[hlthe2b]

1. So, who the hell enforces this now?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. Barr. hahahahahahahhaha nt

[MiniMe]

2. I wish we could see the whole thing

We really don't know what those pieces of clips say

[GeorgeGist]

8. Here you go ...

although I caution, as of 10:00 am, this document doesn't appear on the GAO website :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BCR-YlonpVGhuqCAbIAsFN6DNt7w-h5n/view?usp=sharing

[Mike 03]

3. Oh boy. Now what?

Who is going to deliver the bad news?

[underpants]

4. LMAO. Just another day being THE COOCH

You find out you shouldn’t even have been hired for a job no one wanted you in.

These two (and others) might as well have been hanging out in the Lowe’s parking lot waiting to jump on a truck. That’s where they are on a normal personnel depth chart.

[lagomorph777]

9. Cucinelli was insanely corrupt as VA AG.

He appears to be unrepentant now.

He actually tried to prosecute scientists because they were investigating climate change.

[underpants]

12. They've kept him away from confirmation because there are a lot of knives waiting for him

He’s possibly more unliked than Ted Cruz. If the COOCH had to go through a confirmation process it wouldn’t be pretty.

Yes he was a complete ahole as AG. HE was the ultrasound guy for McDonnell.
The Va GOP had the Governorship in their pocket with Bolling but the loonies HAD to have THE COOCH. They went to a convention instead of a primary aaaand .......Gov. MacAuliffe. Thank you Va GOP.

[yellowcanine]

5. I predict tRump and Barr will ignore it.

No teeth in a GAO ruling.

[demmiblue]

6. ...

[Golden Raisin]

7. This regime doesn't give a shit about laws,

traditional norms, subpoenas, constitutionality, GAO, IG's, etc. They'll smirk and do exactly what they want.

[demmiblue]

11. WaPo article:

The appointments of the top two officials at the Department of Homeland Security violated federal law, the Government Accountability Office said on Friday.

GAO, which is an independent watchdog agency that reports to Congress, said that Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and his deputy Kenneth Cuccinelli are serving under an invalid order of succession under the Vacancies Reform Act.

The Vacancies Reform Act governs how temporary appointments can be made to positions that require Senate confirmation. President Trump has repeatedly circumvented the Senate confirmation process by placing people in acting positions -- including Wolf and Cuccinelli, whose official title is Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.

Those two appointments violated the act, GAO said, because of the sequence of events following the resignation of DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in April of last year. The official who assumed the title of acting secretary at that time, Kevin McAleenan, had not been designated in the order of succession, GAO said.

Subsequent personnel moves also were invalid, and Wolf and Cuccinelli “are serving under an invalid order of succession," the agency said.

GAO said it was referring the matter to the DHS inspector general for reviews, and that any further actions would be up to Congress and the IG.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/14/top-dhs-officials-wolf-cuccinelli-are-not-legally-eligible-serve-their-current-roles-congressional-watchdog-agency-finds/

[demmiblue]

13. Now, Reps. Thompson and Maloney are calling on Wolf to return to his undersecretary role and...

Now, Reps. Thompson and Maloney are calling on Wolf to return to his undersecretary role and for Cuccinelli to resign altogether.

They want the IG to quickly examine whether actions they took are legally valid.

Link to tweet

[yellowcanine]

14. I predict SERIOUS CONCERN from Susan Collins.