Next Out Is DHS Boss Chad Wolf

Blaming "recent events, including the ongoing and meritless court rulings regarding the validity of my authority as Acting Secretary," Chad Wolf resigned Monday from the Department of Homeland Security. Wolf told staff members in a letter that he was saddened to leave, CNBC reports, and had planned to stay through President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20. He was supposed to help plan security for the inauguration, per the New York Times, which is taking place after threats of violence and two weeks after the attack on the US Capitol. That job, and the "acting secretary" title at DHS, will fall to Pete Gaynor, who's now FEMA's administrator.

The White House had no comment about Wolf's deparature, and he didn't specifically bring up the violence at the Capitol. Wolf had issued a statement last week urging President Trump to denounce the attack. In November, a federal judge found that Wolf's appointment was in violation of the order of succession for department secretaries; that tossed out Wolf's suspension of the DACA program. Wolf, who'd been acting secretary since November 2019, becomes the third member of Trump's Cabinet to resign since the Capitol riot. He was attending meetings overseas at the time, per the Washington Post, but DHS has since received criticism for a lack of security preparation before the protest. (More Chad Wolf stories.)