(LibertyInsider.org) — House Republicans have failed to impeach Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who stands accused of violating public trust and willfully breaking the law by failing to secure the southern border. In a tightly contested vote on February 6, four Republicans sided with Democrats to block the measure.
The energetic process unfolded on Tuesday in ways that left leaders on both sides of the aisle feeling stunned. The vote initially appeared headed for a 215-215 deadlock, with only GOP Representatives Tom McClintock (R-CA), Ken Buck (R-CO), and Mike Gallagher (R-WI) opposing impeachment.
BREAKING: House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas fails.
Speaker Johnson: "The resolution is not adopted" pic.twitter.com/dRNvNxRsfP— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 6, 2024
A handful of Conservative leaders, including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), reportedly attempted to surround Gallagher and the other holdouts in an effort to convince them to change their minds. All three men refused.
With only seconds left before the vote was set to conclude, Representative Blake Moore (R-UT) suddenly changed his vote to “no,” leaving the official tally at 214 to 216. The motion to impeach Mayorkas was officially defeated — at least for now.
Reports have suggested that by voting “no” in line with the prevailing side, Moore has effectively retained the right to file a motion revisiting the issue of impeaching Mayorkas at a later date.
Representative Michael Guest (R-MS) spoke at a press conference shortly after the vote. He stressed that while all four holdouts did in fact agree that Mayorkas was a failure, they also had serious concerns about whether the impeachment clause allowed an “elected official to be impeached on those grounds,” according to The New York Post.
Buck and McClintock’s decision to vote against the measure came as little surprise. Both had recently voiced doubts over whether Mayorkas’ actions cleared the high bar for impeachment.
In an op-ed published in The Hill, Buck called the DHS leader an “embarrassment” and suggested that he would likely go down as the worst secretary in history. However, he also questioned if the Constitution justified impeaching someone for simple malpractice. Buck also said he had concerns about the use of partisan impeachments as a political tactic.
McClintock appeared to echo these sentiments in a pre-vote memo. Calling it bad politics and bad policy, he encouraged leaders to follow the Constitution “as the founders intended.”
Copyright 2024, LibertyInsider.org
