A House Republican spoke out Thursday against his party’s efforts to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, calling the move a “stunt” and a “political gimmick.”
Retiring Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) told MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing that what’s alleged in the articles of impeachment doesn’t rise to the level. The draft legislation claimed Mayorkas “willfully and systemically refused to comply with the law” by instituting a “catch and release scheme” that frees migrants while they await immigration court proceedings. Republicans also allege that he “knowingly made false statements, and knowingly obstructed lawful oversight of the Department of Homeland Security” about border security.
“This is not a high crime or misdemeanor. It’s not an impeachable offense. This is a policy difference,” said Buck, who has also bashed his GOP colleagues’ impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
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“Let me say there is a crisis on the border. The law needs to be enforced,” Buck continued. “But if we start going down this path of impeachment with a Cabinet official, we are opening a door as Republicans that we don’t want to open. The next president who is a Republican will face the same scrutiny from Democrats. It’s wrong, and we should not set this precedent.
Buck explained that he believes he has done his “due diligence” by meeting with constitutional experts, former members of Congress, and the staff of the House Homeland Security Committee, among others.
“If there’s some new evidence, I’m happy to look at it. But I don’t believe there will be,” he said.
House Republicans can only afford two defections should Mayorkas’ impeachment be voted on in the full House, with Buck already being one. Jansing noted that three congressmen have thus far not indicated where they stand on the matter, and asked Buck if he’s spoken with any of them.
“I have had some private conversations with one or more of them,” he acknowledged, referring to Reps. Tom McClintock (R-CA), Dave Joyce (R-OH) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA). While he declined to get specific, Buck said it wouldn’t surprise him “if there are two or three Republicans who will vote no—myself and one or two others.”
An impeachment vote could “absolutely” backfire, Buck added.
“I think that it will be looked at as a political gimmick, a stunt. I don’t believe it will be taken seriously by the American public,” he said. “Say we were successful in impeaching Mayorkas, and the Senate convicted him, which is very unlikely. What would happen at that point? President Biden would appoint someone else who agreed with his policies, and I don’t believe there would be any remediation on the border.”
Impeaching Mayorkas has proven to be a tough sell among other conservative voices. The Wall Street Journal editorial board said bluntly that it “achieves nothing.” Michael Chertoff, the former DHS head in the George W. Bush administration, wrote in The Hill that Republicans have “failed to put forth evidence that meets the bar.”
Former Trump impeachment lawyer Alan Dershowitz has also opposed it, as has conservative lawyer Jonathan Turley, who in 2019 testified against the impeachment of then-President Donald Trump.
“Biden has been dead wrong on immigration, but voters will soon have an opportunity to render a judgment on those policies in the election,” Turley wrote in an opinion piece for The Daily Beast. “Mayorkas has carried out those policies. What has not been shown is conduct by the secretary that could be viewed as criminal or impeachable.”
