On Wednesday, in the dead of night when no one was watching, MAGA House Republicans voted to send articles of impeachment for Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, to the floor for a House vote with no evidence of high crimes or misdemeanors. Despite a year’s worth of investigations, MAGA House Republicans have not been able to turn up a single shred of evidence worthy of impeaching the Secretary – and their GOP colleagues in Congress know it. MAGA House Republicans are only doing Donald Trump’s bidding, trying to distract from the fact that they are failing to get anything done on the issues that actually matter to the American people like the economy and access to health care. Even some of the MAGA Republicans’ own colleagues have admitted, there is absolutely not a shred of evidence warranting impeaching the Secretary:
House Republicans
- Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO): “This Is Not A High Crime Or Misdemeanor. This Is Not An Impeachable Offense. This Is A Policy Difference.” “I’m not changing my mind. I have met with Chairman Green from the Homeland Security Committee, the staff, outside constitutional experts, former members of congress about what this would mean for congress. I believe I have done my due diligence and I am standing firm at this point on this. If there’s some new evidence, I’m happy to look at it, but I don’t believe there will be. […] This is not a high crime or misdemeanor. This is not an impeachable offense. This is a policy difference … it’s wrong, and we should not set this precedent.” [MSNBC, 2/1/24, VIDEO]
Senate Republicans
- Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC): “I Don’t Agree With It.” “‘In many respects, there’s a parallel. If they’re torpedoing a bill whose contents they haven’t seen yet, it’s very similar to targeting a member of the administration without doing their homework to find precisely why he should be impeached. I don’t agree with it, but at least they’re consistent,’ Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) quipped. ‘They’re taking a fast track to condemning something they know nothing about, and they’re taking a fast track to using impeachment without doing their homework,’ he continued. ‘People are cutting corners and not doing their homework.’” [The Hill, 1/31/24]
- Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT): “I Haven’t Seen The Constitutional Standard Met.” “I haven’t seen the Constitutional standard met yet. We’ll see what they find in their investigation…From what I can tell, he’s carrying out the policies of his boss, the president, for which you don’t impeach the secretary.” [Axios, 1/9/24]
- Senator John Thune (R-SD): “You Have To Think Long And Hard” About Impeachment. “It’s a path when you start down that — I think you have to think long and hard about that, because it’s been a long time since it’s been triggered for somebody at the Cabinet level.” [The Hill, 1/31/24]
- Senator Shelley More Capito (R-WV): “I Still Don’t Think We Should Be Impeaching Somebody Every Two Or Three Months.” “‘I still don’t think we should be impeaching somebody every two or three months,’ Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said. ‘I stand by that.’” [The Hill, 1/31/24]
- Senator Capito: There Needs To Be Evidence To Impeach Mayorkas. ‘I’ve got to see what their evidence is,’ said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a perennial skeptic of House GOP impeachment efforts.” [Axios, 1/9/24]
- Senator James Lankford (R-OK): Our Southern Border Is “Political Gamesmanship” In Washington D.C. “Only in Washington is our southern border political gamesmanship instead of a national security crisis.” [X, @SenatorLankford, 1/17/24]
- Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): Impeaching Mayorkas Is A “Waste of Time.” “Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said impeachment is a ‘waste of time’ unless it’s targeting Biden and predicted Senate Democrats won’t hold a trial anyway, arguing Republicans should instead make their case directly to the public: ‘This is an election year, we can solve a lot of those problems in 10 months.’” [Axios, 1/9/24]
- Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK): “We Have Some Things To Do” Instead of Impeaching Mayorkas. “‘Oh my gosh,’ exclaimed Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) when asked about the effort to impeach Mayorkas. ‘We have some things to do. I’d like us all to be working really fast on appropriations.’” [Axios, 1/9/24]
Other Conservatives
- Trump’s Former Impeachment Defense Lawyer Alan Dershowitz: “Whatever Else Mayorkas May Or May Not Have Done, He Has Not Committed Bribery, Treason, Or High Crimes And Misdemeanors.” “Whatever else Mayorkas may or may not have done, he has not committed bribery, treason, or high crimes and misdemeanors. […] Congress has the power to issue a statement condemning Mayorkas, just as it had the power to issue a statement condemning Trump. But the extraordinary power of impeachment should be reserved for constitutionally impeachable offenses and not invoked simply because one party has the votes to do so.” [The Hill, 1/30/24]
- Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff: “Political And Policy Disagreements Aren’t Impeachable Offenses.” “Political and policy disagreements aren’t impeachable offenses. The Constitution gives Congress the power to impeach federal officials for treason, bribery and ‘other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.’ That’s a high bar. In the history of our republic, only one cabinet secretary has been impeached (for receiving corrupt kickback payments) […] As homeland security secretary under President George W. Bush—and as a former federal judge, U.S. attorney and assistant attorney general—I can say with confidence that, for all the investigating that the House Committee on Homeland Security has done, they have failed to put forth evidence that meets the bar.” [The Wall Street Journal, 1/28/24]
- Perennial GOP Witness Jonathan Turley: “I Just Don’t Believe That They Have A Cognizable Basis Here For Impeachment.” ‘“I don’t think they have established any of those basis for impeachment,’ Turley said during an appearance Monday morning on Fox News, where he is also a regular contributor for legal affairs. ‘The fact is, impeachment is not for being a bad Cabinet member or even a bad person. It is a very narrow standard…I just don’t believe that they have a cognizable basis here for impeachment,’ Turley said, noting lawmakers and constitutional experts have long warned about the weaponization of impeachment against government officials for political purposes.” [The Hill, 1/29/24]