- Many House Republicans are waiting for a thorough case to be brought against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas before his impeachment is pursued, three House Republican staffers told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
- Some House Republicans also believe that the current pushes to impeach President Joe Biden will distract from a potential Mayorkas impeachment process, two of the staffers told the DCNF.
- “All of this is totally going out the window … because now the committee is going to have to handle the Biden impeachment, at least on some of the border stuff, as well. But our plan was basically just be unilaterally focused on dereliction of duty for the month of July, and, at least on the committee level, not on the sub level, there are offices that are upset with people like Boebert right now for moving away from the priority here,” one staffer told the DCNF.
A faction of House Republicans are awaiting the results of a thorough investigation into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas before supporting his impeachment, according to three House Republican staffers who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
While some Republican members of the House are ready to impeach Mayorkas now, many others are waiting on a more lengthy investigative process, the Republican staffers, who spoke on background to have a more open and candid conversation, told the DCNF. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green has launched a weeks-long investigation that is focusing on Mayorkas’ alleged “dereliction of duty” over his handling of the southern border, and the surge of illegal immigration into the U.S. that has occurred under his leadership. (RELATED: Top GOP Rep Says There’s Evidence The Biden Admin Released Migrants With Chinese Military Ties Into The US)
The initial findings of the investigation include instances of Mayorkas allegedly lying to Congress under oath on multiple occasions and allegedly lying to the American public dozens of times. “There is undeniably a catastrophic crisis raging at our Southwest border, a crisis that has been raging for more than two years. The American people are suffering, not just in border states, but in communities all across this country, as the consequences of an unprecedented crisis impact Americans of all walks of life,” the initial report states.
Green previously told the DCNF he had evidence of “potential fraud” committed by Mayorkas. “We’ve got some people that are sharing some information with us that there’s potential fraud, so we’re going to look very hard at all of these things, prepare a packet, show it to the American people, and then if it warrants impeachment, we’ll hand it off to Chairman Jordan. I think it will, based on the information I know,” Green told the DCNF at the time.
Republican Texas Rep. Michael McCaul is “interested in a thorough investigation” and will follow Green’s lead, one of the staffers said. “If they get to an impeachment, it will be after a thorough process. I think this is a serious investigation compared to maybe some in the House that have been a little more rushed,” the Republican staffer said.
“I think it just is gonna take more time for a bunch of people to get on board,” the staffer added.
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A second staffer believes that House Republican leadership wants to ensure they don’t politicize the process and follow Green’s lead rather than immediately follow the lead of the several members of the party who have filed articles of impeachment in recent months.
“Leadership has been very clear that they’re not against impeachment, but that they want to make sure that they can draw a contrast in the way they handle it to the way that the Democrats handled impeachment during the Trump administration. I think they’re extremely concerned about ensuring that there’s a thorough investigation and that charges come out of the right committees with the right background,” the second staffer told the DCNF.
Some House Republicans believe Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert’s ongoing push to impeach President Joe Biden is distracting from the investigation into the DHS secretary, the staffer added.
“All of this is totally going out the window … because now the committee is going to have to handle the Biden impeachment, at least on some of the border stuff, as well. But our plan was basically just be unilaterally focused on dereliction of duty for the month of July, and, at least on the committee level, not on the sub level, there are offices that are upset with people like Boebert right now for moving away from the priority here,” the staffer said.
A third staffer said the push to impeach Biden may delay a potential Mayorkas impeachment. “It also depends on the Biden impeachment thing because that’s kind of just like a mess that is happening and if the Democrats are able to tie it successfully to Mayorkas it could be a problem. With Mayorkas, it’s much easier to make a case,” the staffer said.
For some offices, Mayorkas’ possible impeachment is moving too slowly, the staffer said. “Right now the Homeland strategy basically is to lay the groundwork for it.”
“As long as McCarthy is behind it and tells them to do it and Chairman Green is behind it and tells them to do it, I think that they’ll get there eventually. I think that the usual suspects like Tony Gonzalez and whoever else may not vote for it,” the staffer added.
McCarthy doesn’t want impeachment to be based on “political reasons,” he told CNN in May. “I know people are very frustrated with [Mayorkas],” McCarthy said.
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