In a historic vote of 216-214, the House of Representatives decided not to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for the border crisis that occurred under his leadership. Prior to the vote, Representatives Ken Buck (R-CO) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) had already announced their intention to vote against impeachment.
They were later joined by Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who voted alongside the unified Democrats. However, Representative Blake Moore (R-UT) voted against impeachment for procedural reasons, allowing the possibility of another vote on the matter in the future. Gallagher had expressed his concerns about impeachment during a closed-door Republican Conference meeting earlier that day.
Despite efforts from Republican leadership and senior members to sway their votes, Buck and McClintock remained steadfast in their opposition to impeachment. In a surprising turn of events, Moore, who holds a position in House leadership, voted against impeachment at the last moment, just minutes before the final vote and right before the gavel came down. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who had been leading the charge for Mayorkas’s impeachment for over a year, argued that his failure to adhere to laws and alleged dishonesty with Congress provided clear grounds for impeachment.
“My Democrat colleagues argue that one cannot be impeached for policy differences,” Greene said on the House floor Tuesday. “Well, I argue that breaking our laws is more than just policy differences.”
Refusing to comply with the laws of the United States is more than just "policy differences."@RepMTG lays out some of the consequences of Secretary Mayorkas' refusal to comply with those laws, and his breach of public trust. pic.twitter.com/RwMhDXr0Ar
— House Homeland GOP (@HomelandGOP) February 6, 2024
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has suffered yet another setback with this defeat. His already slim majority has been further diminished by the expulsion of Rep. George Santos (R-NY), the early retirement of Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and the temporary absence of Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), who is currently recovering from cancer. Despite this, Johnson has not disclosed his intentions and may potentially reintroduce the impeachment resolution on the floor as early as tomorrow.