How hard-line Republicans pushed a Mayorkas impeachment to the floor

MAGA Republicans and House Democrats agree that the far right wing of the Republican conference deserves credit for impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The impeachment resolutions against Mayorkas, which will eventually number five in total, were introduced in the first days after Republicans took control of the House, following calls that began before the 2022 midterm elections.

But interest in impeachment waxed and waned as Republican colleagues remained reluctant and attention focused on efforts to impeach President Biden.

It was the so-called MAGA faction that continued to beat the drum for Mayorkas’ impeachment, and in particular Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) who helped push the impeachment to its breaking point.

“Bitch, bully, bulldozer,” Greene said of her strategy for moving the issue forward.

“I said to our leaders that I’m going to do it every week. I’m going to put this bill on the floor and force Congress to vote on it every week until we do something about this, until he’s impeached. “The Homeland Security Committee was committed to considering the provision in January,” she said.

The panel missed its deadline by one day.

But while Greene may take credit, Democrats have made it clear that she is to blame.

The only visual aid at Monday’s news conference condemning the impeachment effort was a selfie that Greene took with newly sworn-in House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana).

“This is a political stunt, a gigantic undertaking ordered by both Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene. House Republicans are clearly ceding their ever-shrinking majority to extremists. This sham impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas is just another sad example,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said at a press conference.

But Republicans are divided over how far the hard-line Caucus Freedom Caucus and its allies have pushed the issue.

“Many in the conference have wanted it for a long time, and I know some have withdrawn articles of impeachment,” said Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.). “If that actually happened on the floor, that would be a conference effort.”

“At the end of the day, I don’t really care who gets the credit. I just want to see this person held accountable for their complete dereliction of duty,” Crane said.

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has taken small steps toward impeaching Mayorkas.

Although he called on the secretary to resign before officially taking the gavel, he was in no hurry to use the nuclear option.

Mr. McCarthy left much of the issue to be handled through an investigation led by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Greene (R-Tenn.), a strategic move leading up to impeachment. This strategy comes at a time when some people are emphasizing the need to be prepared.

“We have to litigate. We need facts and evidence before we bring charges,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in 2022.

But Mr. McCarthy’s reluctance to go all-in on impeaching Mr. Mayorkas provoked a backlash from hardline conservatives who threatened Mr. McCarthy’s path to the speakership when Republicans took over the House; They moved to oust him from the chairman’s position.

With another impeachment inquiry into President Biden in full swing, it was unclear whether Republicans who had long wanted to impeach the Homeland Security secretary would have enough support from his colleagues and Republican leadership. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) told reporters last summer that some colleagues were “fixated on the definition of high crimes and misdemeanors” regarding Mayorkas, who is implementing the Biden administration’s policies. “There is,” he said.

But things quickly changed with the change of speaker and Greene’s move to force a vote on articles of impeachment in the House.

“Speaker Johnson initiated the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas. The former speaker should have done it a year ago,” said Johnson, one of eight Republicans who worked with Democrats to oust McCarthy last year. said Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good (R-Va.).

The unspecified implication is that those who ousted the former speaker may now deserve some credit for writing against Mr. Mayorkas.

“We had two years’ worth of evidence. We didn’t need an investigation to do this,” Good said.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a member of the Freedom Caucus who also introduced an early resolution to impeach Mayorkas, said Greene’s privilege motion similarly precluded Johnson’s decision to impeach Johnson, which could have otherwise been avoided. He said he urged action.

“It accelerated things because a response was called for. So I think that was important,” he said.

“It was really a call to action for the leadership, and the leadership actually had to do something. And I think that had a huge impact on how we ended up. .”

But some Republicans say it’s only a matter of time before Mayorkas is impeached, even as they believe it was Greene who sparked the vote.

“No, I think this was coming. … We took five steps to get to the bottom of it,” Green said of his committee’s work, including the investigative step he announced in the summer.

“A lot of people you know have contributed to this process. I mean obviously her floor motion got the Democrats to refer it to our committee. My committee. It helped because it brought that to me.”

But he also thanked Mr Green and others for their support, saying: So the louder the voice, the better. ”

Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), who introduced the first resolution to impeach Mayorkas this Congress, similarly said he had been assured by leadership that the committee would lead the investigation toward impeachment. Stated.

“Success has 1,000 fathers and mothers. Defeat is an orphan. So I don’t care who gets the credit for it, but this is just good policy,” he said.

He also praised Greene for “wiping out” the issue and returning to the forefront, but said Democrats are primarily focused on her role as a fundraising vehicle.

“They’re using her as a symbol for things like raising money, so I think they think that’s something that will be functionally beneficial to them. Again, another green, Mark. “Knowing what I know about Green, he’s been at it the whole time,” Fallon said.

Biggs said the vote took time and required “a personal effort” to meet with resistance groups, skeptics and impeachment novices. It took a while,” he said.

“There were questions that needed to be answered. People asked me, ‘Andy, what is a felony?’ So I was going to present to them my interpretation, my understanding of what the founders intended for high crimes and misdemeanors. And someone else will say, “But Mayorkas isn’t the one making these decisions, right?” Don’t have a boss? And perhaps that is what we should pursue. “That would have gotten us through it,” he said, a necessary step given the small Republican majority.

But Biggs credits more than just the Freedom Caucus: “There are a lot of people who are very interested in border issues, very dissatisfied, and really want to know what’s going on. “I was there,” he said.

Mayorkas’ impeachment is a clear victory for members of the Freedom Caucus and their allies in a Congress where they have fought for years with Republican leaders over conservative policies and spending levels and have often been ignored.

But even those who have long called for the move will not be satisfied, since no one expects the Senate to convict and remove the chief justice.

“It’s not the end. It’s just another piece of the puzzle. It’s part of the message,” Roy said. “He should be impeached because he’s not following the law. But so what? We still have to deal with border issues.”