Johnson faces a narrow margin to pass Sec. Mayorkas impeachment TUESDAY: Republican hardliner Ken Buck weighs in on ‘no’ vote, claims it’s constitutionally ‘wrong’ to expel Biden’s embattled official over southern border catastrophe
- A source close to Buck told DailyMail.com that the congressman had not heard from Speaker Johnson all weekend to convince him
- Buck is the only one who openly votes ‘no’ to impeaching the Secretary of Homeland Security
The vote to repeal Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas will reach a razor-thin margin Tuesday, with Colorado GOP Rep. Ken Buck opposing the effort.
Speaker Mike Johnson said Friday that he would talk to Buck this weekend about his opposition to impeachment, but a source close to Buck told DailyMail.com that the congressman had not heard from him all weekend.
‘He is a good friend, a colleague. I will talk to him this weekend,” the speaker said on Fox Business.
Buck is the only one who openly votes ‘no’ to impeaching the Secretary of Homeland Security. But Republicans can only afford to lose a small handful of votes and pass the articles of impeachment.
Buck has opposed all impeachment efforts during his time in Congress — he has called the movement to impeach President Biden “theatre” and has twice voted against impeaching former President Donald Trump.
‘The Constitution is clear. I will vote no on the impeachment of Secretary Mayorkas,” the congressman continued.
The vote to repeal Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas will reach a razor-thin margin on Tuesday, while Colorado GOP Rep. Ken Buck opposed the effort
Buck said Mayorkas has “completely failed in his job,” but “mismanagement or incompetence does not create what our founders considered a criminal offense.”
The congressman, who is retiring after this term, warned that “partisan impeachments” “will boomerang and hurt Republicans in the future.”
If the vote is successful, Mayorkas will be the first Cabinet secretary to be ousted since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876.
“If Mayorkas were removed from office, it is likely that President Biden would appoint another incompetent person to carry out the same failed approach,” Buck reasoned.
Other Republicans might oppose the measure. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-California, has said he has not yet decided how he will vote.
The articles of impeachment were passed by the Homeland Security Committee on party lines last week.
If the vote is successful, Mayorkas will be the first Cabinet secretary to be ousted since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876.
Republicans have filed two articles of impeachment against Biden’s border chief Mayorkas — one accusing him of deliberately undermining immigration laws through catch-and-release and another accusing him of obstructing and lying to Congress.
Republicans cite Mayorkas’ “deliberate and systematic refusal to obey the law” as hundreds of migrants continue to pour into the US every day.
They allege that Mayorkas is guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors” amounting to a “refusal to comply with immigration law” and a “breach of the public trust.”
The impeachment resolution stated: “Alejandro N. Mayorkas willfully and systematically refused to enforce immigration laws, failed to control the border at the expense of national security, endangered public safety, and violated the rule of law and the separation of powers in the constitution. , to the obvious detriment of the people of the United States.
Passage only requires a majority in the House of Representatives. The Senate would hold a trial, and a conviction would require a two-thirds majority, an extremely unlikely outcome in the Democratic-led Senate.