President Trump on Thursday withdrew his nomination of current Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to lead the department as its Senate-confirmed secretary following a statement issued by Wolf that morning condemning the storming of the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday.
In his statement, Wolf said he’ll remain as acting secretary until the end of the administration to ensure a continued focus on threats to the homeland and ensuring “an orderly transition to President-elect Biden’s DHS team.”
The White House statement withdrawing the nomination of Wolf gave no reason for the move. Wolf has been the acting lead of the Department of Homeland Security since November 2019 after then acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan resigned. Trump nominated Wolf to be secretary last August.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a hearing in September to consider Wolf’s nomination but the Senate never voted on the nomination. The matter was moot anyway as the Senate isn’t schedule to meet again in full session until Jan. 19, the day before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.
“What transpired yesterday was tragic and sickening,” Wolf said in his statement. “While I have consistently condemned political violence on both sides of the aisle, specifically violence directed at law enforcement, we now see some supporters of the President using violence as means to achieve political ends. This is unacceptable. These violent actions are unconscionable, and I implore the President and all elected officials to strongly condemn the violence that took place yesterday.”