An obscure government oversight group could make major waves in the 2024 election if President Joe Biden fulfills its wishes.
The group, a watchdog of government watchdogs, has suggested Biden fire Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari following a four-year investigation and a 1,000-page report. If he does, it could set off a storm of controversy.
Cuffari provides oversight of DHS, one of the highest-profile government agencies, and has investigated its issues with properly screening immigrants entering the U.S., its handling of the two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump, and the management of funds at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), among other things.
He’s also been under investigation for more than four years by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. The group, known as CIGIE, was created by Congress in 2008 to provide oversight of the government’s overseers, but now stands accused of becoming a political actor weeding out IGs who step out of line.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) came to Cuffari’s defense after the report suggesting he be fired leaked. Calling the report a “swamp screed” and its authors a “panel of Biden-Harris appointees,” Gaetz said the matter boiled down to partisan retaliation for his oversight of DHS and warned Biden against following through with a firing.
“Removing you might be politically convenient for those in power, but Americans would see it as a dirty trick,” Gaetz wrote in the letter, which is addressed to Cuffari. “You have independent oversight over the nerve center of the D.C. swamp, and the knives are out for you.”
CIGIE’s 1,000-page report accuses Cuffari of abusing his authority, spending nearly $1.4 million in taxpayer funds to investigate three members of his staff, and misleading Congress about his background during his 2019 confirmation process. Cuffari was appointed by Trump and unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
“The IC makes the following recommendation: referred for appropriate action, up to and including removal,” it reads.
Cuffari would not be the first IG to go this year.
Biden fired longtime Railroad Retirement Board IG Martin Dickman in March following a CIGIE investigation, and in May, Social Security Administration Inspector General Gail Ennis announced her resignation in the midst of a lengthy CIGIE investigation into her office.
Some Democrats in Congress now say Cuffari should do the same.
“In the wake of the independent and nonpartisan CIGIE Integrity Committee’s report documenting IG Cuffari’s misconduct, we call on President Biden to remove him as inspector general of DHS,” Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) wrote in a joint statement.
But several Republicans have called CIGIE into question, particularly over its claims to being independent or nonpartisan. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has fought to reform the process of hiring and firing inspectors general for years and questioned the White House over the firing of Dickman.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) told the Washington Examiner in June that CIGIE has “weaponized their investigative process against Inspectors General who are out of step with the goals and desires of the committee itself.”
Over the summer, Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY) grilled CIGIE chairman Mark Greenblatt over allegations of politicization inside the group and a lack of accountability among its members. She is calling for reforms as well, which would include the group reporting to Congress rather than to the president.
James Read, Cuffari’s chief counsel, sued CIGIE in his personal capacity in June, alleging unfair scrutiny and improper access to his information by Integrity Committee Chairwoman Kimberly Howell, who as IG of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not a federal government employee.
The Justice Department responded by arguing that Howell is accountable because she “functions subordinately to other members of the Executive Branch who are accountable to the President” and that CIGIE’s leadership is “ultimately subject to presidential control.”
But John Vecchione, an attorney who sued CIGIE last year, says the statement concedes that the group is not truly independent.
“It’s independent when they want to escape accountability, but they’re under the president when it’s good for the Justice Department,” Vecchioine said. “The whole Cuffari imbroglio shows how dysfunctional this organization is.”
The original intent in creating CIGIE 16 years ago was good, Vecchione argues, but he says it has now turned into a “Washington snake pit.”
“If Cuffari was inside the tent with the rest of them, I don’t think this would be happening to him,” Vecchione said. “What we’ve seen in this whole sad example is they are just as inclined to abuse their power as anybody else.”
The controversy has brewed underground for years, usually far away from the front pages of news outlets, but if Biden follows through with the suggestion to fire Cuffari, especially before Election Day, that could change.
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“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris cannot risk another damning report about their failed policies coming out before the election,” Hageman said. “So now they’re trying to fire the official investigating the attempted assassination of their political rival.”
The Washington Examiner has contacted the White House seeking comment.