Seriously, Senator Hassan?
After reading the recent article titled “Hassan wants DHS to examine potential bias in investigation,” I double-checked in case it was already April Fools’ Day.
Senator Hassan, do you really think DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari might fairly investigate whether Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller’s characterization of Renée Good and Alex Pretti as “domestic terrorists” impeded a federal investigation into their killing?
Appointed by Trump in 2019, Cuffari declined to investigate whether the Secret Service played a role in forcibly clearing protesters from Lafayette Square in June 2020. He declined to investigate Secret Service text messages about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. According to the New York Times, he ordered staff to remove damaging findings from investigative reports on domestic violence and sexual misconduct by DHS officers. Most of the attorneys in his office have quit, unhappy with how he plays his role.
An October 2024 report on his office issued by the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency has been hidden from public view, but the authoritative Project on Government Oversight says Cuffari has abused his authority and waged “a years-long campaign to derail and discredit investigations into allegations of his misconduct.”
On day four of his second term, Trump fired 17 of the 26 Inspectors General he feared might actually do their jobs, leaving Cuffari in place at DHS. This is the man Hassan has asked to examine potential bias in investigations into the murder of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Not seriously, of course.