President Donald Trump said Friday that he had tapped senior Homeland Security official Chad Wolf to serve as acting DHS secretary, passing over immigration hardliner Ken Cuccinelli.
Trump told reporters before leaving for a campaign rally in Mississippi that Wolf had replaced acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan, whose last day in the job was supposed to be Thursday. McAleenan had planned to extend his stay until Nov. 7, but Trump said Wolf was acting secretary already. “He’s right now acting and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “We have great people in there.“
DHS disputed that in a written statement several minutes later, saying that McAleenan is still in charge. “McAleenan is the acting secretary,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the press pool. “Wolf is the acting undersecretary for policy.“