Trump nominates Chad Wolf, the acting Secretary of Homeland Security, to serve permanently - setting up bitter Senate battle

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will nominate acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to the top spot in the agency.

The president made the announcement on Twitter, praising Wolf's leadership of an agency that plays a major role in the key Trump administration policy areas of immigration and crime.

'I am pleased to inform the American Public that Acting Secretary Chad Wolf will be nominated to be the Secretary of Homeland Security,' Trump tweeted. 'Chad has done an outstanding job and we greatly appreciate his service!'

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Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf has been nominated for a promotion by President Donald Trump, though it's unclear if he'll get Senate confirmation before the 2020 election 

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President Donald Trump (right) is photographed with Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf (left) earlier this month 

President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that he planned to nominate Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf to officially lead the agency 

Wolf's prospects for Senate confirmation are unclear. 

There is a narrow window for Wolf to be confirmed before the Nov. 3 election, with the Senate away until Labor Day and then scheduled to recess in mid-October.

Wolf has been a vocal advocate of an administration decision to use DHS to protect federal property and monuments following the protests that erupted this spring over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. 

That included the deployment of federal agents in tactical gear to protect the courthouse in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Wolf was named acting secretary in November 2019 after Trump removed his predecessor, acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan after six months in the post leading an agency that has the third largest budget in the federal government.

The nomination comes amid uncertainty over whether Wolf, as well as acting deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, has been legally entitled to hold the top job at DHS.

The Government Accountability Office said in a finding released Aug. 14 that the federal rules of succession had been violated at DHS and neither Wolf nor Cuccinelli could legally hold their positions without Senate confirmation.

That gave new legal ammunition to the many legal challenges to the Trump administration's restrictive immigration policies. 

The administration disputed the GAO finding and insisted that both men could legally hold their positions under the law.   

Trump circumvented the Senate confirmation process when he put the two men in their jobs. 

He has said he prefers to have acting officials in top positions instead of appointed ones as it gives him more flexibility.

The government watchdog found, that in the DHS case, the moves were in violation of the The Vacancies Reform Act, which governs such temporary appointments.

The problem began with a sequence of events following the resignation of DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in April 2019. 

Kevin McAleenan, who took over as acing secretary, had not been designated in the order of succession, GAO said, and therefore could not hold the acting position.

So the subsequent personnel moves he made were invalid, the 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,' the report read. 

Trump replaced McAleenan with Wolf in November of 2019. Wolf had previously served as Nielsen's chief of staff at DHS. 

Cuccinelli is an immigration hardliner who previously served as acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Wolf elevated him to the deputy secretary position. 

In March, a federal judge ruled that Cuccinelli's appointment to head USCIS was illegal and he did not have the authority to issue policy directives tightening asylum rules.

The two men vowed to fight the finding.

'We wholeheartedly disagree with the GAO's baseless report and plan to issue a formal response to this shortly,' DHS spokesman Nathaniel Madden said in a statement.

In its report, GAO noted that it was not examining the consequences of Wolf and Cuccinelli's improper appointments, or the impact on the actions they have taken in those roles.

Those questions were referred 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 noted. 

But lawsuits over Wolf's and Cuccinelli's actions are inevitable.

The GAO conducted its review in response to inquiries from House Democrats: Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson and Oversight and Reform Chairman Carolyn Maloney.

In response to the findings, the two lawmakers called on Wolf and Cuccinelli to resign.

'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 a statement.