U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) denied allegations Wednesday that he molded intelligence reports to suit the administration, telling a Senate committee that a recent whistleblower's report is "patently false." Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, testifying in a wide-ranging Senate confirmation hearing, also rejected a separate allegation that he held back an intelligence report on Russian disinformation that targeted former vice-president and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. "Rhetoric and political ideology cannot drive intelligence reports and it should not predetermine the actions of any federal department," Sen. Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate's homeland security committee, said at the start of the hearing. In his whistleblower complaint, Murphy said that, as far as he was aware, the DHS intelligence division "never knowingly" collected information about journalists though it did track media reports that appeared to include leaked material. Homeland Security has not had a permanent leader since Kirstjen Nielsen's departure in early 2019.

Source: CBC News September 23, 2020 20:41 UTC