Rep. Loudermilk, Senator Chuck Grassley Demand Answers from Secretary Mayorkas about Interference in DHS OIG Investigations
Washington,
August 20, 2024
Washington D.C. (August 20, 2024) | This week, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (GA-11), Chairman of the Committee on House Administration's Oversight Subcommittee, and Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent letters to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding answers about DHS interference in the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigations, which was detailed in the DHS OIG's report entitled United States Secret Service Preparation for and Response to the Events of January 6, 2021, which was submitted to Congress on August 1, 2024. This report details numerous access issues the DHS OIG has been experiencing that have gone unresolved for years. It states, “[Department] officials have explicitly threatened to withhold information from DHS OIG in the future if DHS OIG releases information outside the executive branch that [Department] officials believe should not be released.” Loudermilk and Grassley's letters condemn DHS for causing this extended delay and its interference with the OIG investigation. Click here to read the full letter to Secretary Mayorkas. Click here to read the full letter to DHS IG Joseph V. Cuffari. BACKGROUND July 19, 2024: Oversight Subcommittee staff learned that the report, The Secret Service’s Preparation for, and Response to, the Events of January 6, 2021, was complete and on DHS Secretary Mayorkas’ desk for final approval. July 23, 2024: Rep. Loudermilk waived on to an Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing with the head of CIGIE, a group tasked with issuing standards for Inspectors General. During this hearing, Rep. Loudermilk confronted CIGIE about Mayorkas delaying the release of the DHS OIG report, to which CIGIE Chair Greenblatt said it was inappropriate. July 24, 2024: Rep. Loudermilk sent a letter to Secretary Mayorkas demanding the immediate release ofthe report titled, The Secret Service’s Preparation for, and Response to, the Events of January 6, 2021. August 1, 2024: DHS OIG released a redacted advance copy of the report entitled, "The Secret Service’s Preparation for, and Response to, the Events of January 6, 2021" to Congress. August 2, 2024: DHS OIG released the report to the American public. ### |