The Republicans of the Lower House have in the collimator the secretary of National Security, Alejandro Mayorkas. They have proposed to trigger a process of political disqualification and remove him from office.
But the plan, devised by the most recalcitrant conservatives, does not have enough consensus among the most moderate Republicans.
What the conservatives criticize Mayorkas is the politics and security of the border, which they want to see completely closed.
Committee chairs are already preparing to hold hearings on the matter. That, according to Republicans, could serve as a prelude to an impeachment inquiry against Mayorkas. Three House committees (Oversight, Homeland Security and the Judiciary) will hold hearings on the influx of immigrants and border security concerns.
The House Judiciary Committee, which would have jurisdiction over an impeachment resolution, is prepared to move forward with formal proceedings if there is a consensus within the Republican conference, a Republican source directly familiar with the matter told CNN.
The first impeachment resolution introduced by House Republicans has already garnered support, including from a member of the GOP leadership team. A Republican source said the Judiciary Committee’s first hearing could take place later this month or early February.
“If anyone is a leading candidate for impeachment in this city, it’s Mayorkas,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told CNN.
It is extremely rare for a presidential cabinet secretary to be charged; so much so that it only happened once, when William Belknap, the Secretary of War (now Secretary of Defense), was impeached by the House before being acquitted by the Senate in 1876.
However, it is now a real possibility after Kevin McCarthy, while lobbying for votes to win the presidency, asked Mayorkas to resign. If he didn’t, he said, he would face possible impeachment proceedings.
With no sign that Mayorkas is stepping aside, several House Republicans say they feel ready to move on, even as a group of their coreligionists harbors serious doubts.
Indeed, McCarthy has to balance his base’s demands for aggressive action with the concerns of more moderate members. Many of them hold seats in central swing districts for their narrow majority. And some in more secure seats are still unconvinced whether the GOP should follow that roadmap.
“Clearly, the management of the southern border has been incompetent,” Rep. Dusty Johnson, a South Dakota Republican, told CNN. But “that’s not the threshold in the Constitution for impeachment, it’s felonies and misdemeanors. I would like to think about the legal standard that the Constitution establishes, and whether or not it has been met.”
If he loses more than four Republican votes in an impeachment resolution, the effort would fail in the House and could spell embarrassment for the party.
And he’s already potentially lost one vote: Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, who has signaled that he opposes the effort at this time. Other members are far from thinking that accusing Mayorkas of committing a felony and a misdemeanor is justified, even if they believe he has done a mediocre job helping secure the southern border.
Indeed, Republicans in swing districts are urging their colleagues not to rush into impeachment, which would mean a run to the Senate and could discourage the American people if the party is perceived to be overreaching.
“The border is a disaster and a complete failure of the Biden administration. We should first try to force change through our economic power,” said Rep. Don Bacon, who represents a Biden-won district in Nebraska. “Maybe after more monitoring we’ll see where average America is, but I don’t think independent and undecided voters are interested in impeachment.”
When asked Tuesday about his pre-election warning that the House could impeach Mayorkas over the GOP’s border concerns, McCarthy criticized the problems at the border.
“Should that person stay at their job? What we can do is investigate, and then that investigation could lead to an impeachment inquiry,” he commented. And he added that he could “get to that point” of impeachment if Mayorkas is found to be “abandoned” in his duties.
During the first working week of his new majority, Rep. Pat Fallon, a Texas Republican, filed articles of impeachment for Mayorkas over issues at the southern border, and Rep. Andy Biggs, a far-right Republican from Arizona, vowed to return to submit a similar resolution in the coming weeks that could serve as a model for an eventual impeachment process.
