John,
President Trump is allowing three of his senior administration officials to illegally serve in their positions. In any other administration, that would be a huge scandal. But unfortunately in this administration, it has barely registered in the constant stream of corruption and chaos.
A federal judge ruled a few weeks ago that the acting head of the Bureau of Land Management, William Perry Pendley, was serving in his role illegally. Trump pulled Pendley’s official nomination when it became clear that his confirmation hearings would be controversial, given his outlandish beliefs and 50 conflicts of interest. But even though Trump pulled his nomination a few months ago, he kept Pendley on in the acting capacity in which he had been serving for a year. That violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which states that acting officials filling certain government positions may only serve for 210 days, or while Senate confirmation is pending.
Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli, the Acting DHS Secretary and his deputy, have also been violating the same law, two different federal judges found earlier this year. That calls into question the legality of many of their actions, including their responses to racial justice protests this summer. Trump’s DHS has long been carrying out problematic policies, and potentially violating the law in the process. The agency’s failure to create records that could reunite the families that they separated at the southern border, as well as the reports that forced hysterectomies were carried out in an ICE facility are both deeply troubling examples of this pattern.
The fact that the leaders of these agencies have never faced Senate confirmation means that representatives of the American people have never had the chance to get answers on failures like these, possible conflicts of interest, and much more.
The good news is that there is a law against this behavior, and the courts have done their job to uphold that law. But the bad news is that the president does not seem to care.
Trump has repeatedly blocked and circumvented accountability when he thinks accountability does not serve his political ends. We saw that with his refusal to release his tax returns and White House visitor logs, and we are seeing it now with the illegal appointees he has installed in positions of enormous power.
Enough is enough.
Noah Bookbinder
Executive Director, CREW
