Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
The chances of a pre-election Senate vote on Chad Wolf’s DHS confirmation are small.
Situation complicated for acting chief of DHS
WASHINGTON — A whistleblower’s complaint and a tight timeline are making it increasingly unlikely that the Senate will confirm Chad Wolf as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security before the election.
President Donald Trump formally sent the nomination to the Senate late Thursday after announcing in a tweet last month his intention to appoint Wolf. But Republican senators, who are fighting to keep their majority in November, appear in no rush to launch a heated confirmation that will force uncomfortable questions.
The Senate’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, headed by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, may still pursue a hearing to consider Wolf’s nomination in the weeks ahead. But the full Senate is unlikely to hold a confirmation vote before the election, said two Republican aides granted anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
On Friday, Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, announced that his panel is expanding its probe into politicization at DHS following the whistleblower’s complaints over the department’s handling of intelligence information on election interference and other matters.
Schiff wrote to DHS officials that based on the new information, the committee’s investigation will now encompass “a wider range of reported abuses, deficiencies, and problems, including allegations of improper politicization of intelligence and political interference.”
It was already going to be hard to secure a confirmation vote ahead of the Senate’s October recess even before the new allegations against Wolf.
The president said it will be up to Wolf to answer questions raised in the complaint from Brian Murphy, who said he had been demoted from his DHS intelligence post after a series of clashes with agency leaders over reports on threats to the homeland.
Trump told reporters Thursday that he hadn’t seen the whistleblower complaint.
“But ask Chad Wolf,” he said before heading to a campaign rally in Michigan. “He’s the one that would know something about it.”
DHS spokesman Alexei Woltornist has said the agency denies that there is “any truth” to the complaint Murphy made to the agency’s Office of Inspector General.
A subpoena was issued late Friday by the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., to compel Wolf’s testimony before the panel, which is led by Democrats.