| All the sad news at Politico. This isn't the seediest story you'll read today, but Hilary is really acting her age here... |
A Department of Homeland Security watchdog report issued Tuesday blasted the agency’s No. 2 official for repeatedly intervening on behalf of well-connected participants in an investor-visa program, including Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-Va.) and Tony Rodham, a brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The inspector general report faults Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for creating “an appearance of favoritism and special access” as a result of highly unusual steps he took while serving as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversaw the investment-based program known as EB-5.
“Mayorkas communicated with stakeholders on substantive issues, outside of the normal adjudicatory process and intervened with the career USCIS staff in ways that benefited the stakeholders,” Inspector General John Roth wrote. “In … three instances, but for Mr. Mayorkas’s intervention, the matter would have been decided differently.”
In a 32-page written statement made public along with the 65-page report, Mayorkas adamantly denied wrongdoing. “I respectfully submit that a complete and total repudiation of the allegations against me is the only correct and just conclusion,” he told investigators in January.
However, a press statement Mayorkas released Tuesday was slightly more conciliatory.
| "Please don't indict me!" |
“While I disagree with the Inspector General’s report, I will certainly learn from it and from this process,” he said. “As the leader of U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services, I had the responsibility to ensure that cases, including the three that are the focus of the report, were decided as the law required and that agency errors were corrected.”
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Tuesday that he has “full confidence” in Mayorkas, but that Mayorkas and others need to be cautious about intervening in specific cases.
| Johnson has all the confidence in a Democratic operative that ValJar has, neither more nor less... |
“Each of us in leadership must be mindful that, when we become involved in individual matters that happen to reach our desk, we risk the appearance of preferential treatment and the suspicion of our subordinates. As public servants, we must maintain the trust and confidence of all those around us, and be above reproach,” Johnson said in a statement. “I have discussed this with Deputy Secretary Mayorkas and I am confident he understands this.”
| Much more eyewash at Politico. |
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