House Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson is calling for a federal investigation into unlawfully appointed acting Department of Homeland Security Sec. Chad Wolf’s participation in a naturalization ceremony stunt as part of the Republican National Convention this week, and has asked the Office of Special Counsel “to investigate Mr. Wolf’s participation in this event to determine whether it violated the law.”
“On August 25, 2020, Mr. Wolf performed a naturalization ceremony on government property to be aired at the Republican National Convention for the apparent purpose of advancing the President’s reelection,” Thompson writes. “This is an unprecedented politicization of the naturalization ceremony.”
We’ve found out more recently that at least some of the immigrants who were invited to the White House to be naturalized as U.S. citizens weren’t informed prior to the political stunt that it would be broadcast as part of the Republican National Convention, or that impeached president Donald Trump would be there. But Unlawful Chad certainly knew exactly what he was doing and what was going on.
“During the ceremony in the Great Hall of the White House, the President introduced Mr. Wolf as the Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security,” Thompson continued. “Mr. Wolf administered the Oath of Citizenship to five individuals and stated that he was making his remarks on behalf of the men and women of the Department.”
“This is an unprecedented politicization of the naturalization ceremony—an official function of the Department of Homeland Security,” he says. “Mr. Wolf’s participation appears to constitute engaging in political activity while acting in an official capacity. It also sets a bad example for the Department’s 240,000 employees who are required to comply with the Hatch Act.”
And the department itself knows exactly what it was doing. Like we noted earlier, BuzzFeed News’ Hamed Aleaziz reports that in the time since the political stunt, DHS employees were emailed with “a ‘reminder’ about ‘partisan political activity’ and the rules under the … Hatch Act.” I mean, that they’d even attempt this bit of clean-up after this televised tradition and law-breaking political propaganda reel is laughable.
And speaking of clean-up and Unlawful Chad, following that Government Accountability Office (GAO) report concluding he’s unlawfully at the department, the impeached president is just now officially nominating him to the job, likely having been informed that every anti-immigrant policy bearing his signature is now at risk. But so should Unlawful Chad’s entire job.
“This nomination is a clear admission that the administration (has) installed Mr. Wolf as Acting Secretary unlawfully,” Thompson said about this nomination according to Roll Call. “Since every policy decision Mr. Wolf made since November may be challenged because he lacked proper authority, this is also an attempt to limit the Administration's exposure to legal challenges." Unlawful Chad must go. “Mr. Wolf must be held accountable, not rewarded,” U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada tweeted.
