US Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary, Chad Wolf, appears before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on August 6, 2020 in Washington, DC, to answer questions about the use of federal agents during protests in Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Toni L. SANDYS / POOL / AFP) (Photo by TONI L. SANDYS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
CNN  — 

The Trump administration on Monday rejected the findings of a Government Accountability Office report that concluded the appointments of the top two leadership roles at the Department of Homeland Security are invalid.

The department called on the GAO to “immediately rescind” the report, saying its conclusions are “baseless and baffling.”

Last week, the GAO, which serves as a government watchdog for Congress, found that acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli were appointed as a part of an invalid order of succession.

Following former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s resignation last year, “the official who assumed the title of Acting Secretary had not been designated in the order of succession to serve upon the Secretary’s resignation,” according to the report.

Kevin McAleenan, who previously served as Customs and Border Protection commissioner, had succeeded Nielsen in an acting capacity until leaving the post last fall. Since Nielsen’s departure, the top role at the department has been filled by an acting official that was not Senate-confirmed for the position.

“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 concluded.

Wolf has been serving in the top spot since November.

In a letter to the GAO, Chad Mizelle, the homeland security senior official performing the duties of the general counsel, argues that DHS has a “unique order-of-succession authority” found in the Homeland Security Act of 2002.

“Then-Secretary Nielsen legally changed the succession order for the Secretary in April 2019” write Mizelle, pointing out three acts: first, she issued a document designating the order of succession for any and all vacancies in the secretary position. Second, Nielsen reaffirmed this change in a message to the entire agency. Lastly, she personally executed her order of succession when she swore in McAleenan as the acting secretary.

The letter to the GAO includes a photo of Nielsen swearing-in McAleenan. Mizelle himself is serving in a vacant position since he became the department’s top attorney in February.

The GAO report referred the question over who should be serving as the acting secretary and the senior official performing the duties of deputy secretary to the DHS inspector general.

“Hiding behind the ad hominem attacks in DHS’s churlish response is a rather stunning legal argument—that, even though Secretary Nielsen botched the paperwork in attempting to clear the way for CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to succeed her as acting secretary last April, that doesn’t matter because she told the department she intended him to succeed her and swore him in as her temporary successor,”’ said Steve Vladeck, CNN analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

“In essence, the letter claims the formal succession order must give way to what Nielsen wanted. For an administration that has lashed itself to the mast of interpreting legal text literally, it’s more than a little inconsistent to argue that the formalities are irrelevant here,” he added.

Following Friday’s report Friday’s report, Democratic House committee chairs Bennie Thompson and Carolyn Maloney called on both Wolf and Cuccinelli to step down.

“The President should appoint an apolitical career official to run the Department temporarily and follow the Constitution by swiftly nominating a permanent Secretary,” the chairs wrote.

“As for Mr. Cuccinelli, a political pundit plucked by the President to serve in multiple senior roles at DHS for which he is woefully unqualified, he should immediately resign from the Federal government and retire his unprofessional official Twitter account,” the lawmakers said.

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this story.