Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was nearly impeached days ago, told NBC’s Kristen Welker that the Biden administration is not to blame for the border crisis and added that Congress is the only one who can fix the broken system.
Mayorkas talks about the “broken system”
During “Meet the Press,” Welker pressed Mayorkas whether he feels responsible for the border situation. The Homeland Security Secretary said, “It certainly is a crisis, and we don’t bear responsibility for a broken system, and we’re dealing a tremendous amount within that broken system.”
It is up to the Congress
Mayorkas continued, “Fundamentally, Congress is the only one who can fix it.” Mayorkas, who narrowly avoided impeachment in a 214-216 vote, commented, “There is no question that Congress needs to fix it, and we’re doing everything we can within that broken system short of legislation to address what is not just a challenge for the United States, but one throughout our region.”
Walker pushed back
The host questioned Mayorkas, saying, “No doubt there is gridlock in Congress. But do you bear responsibility for what is happening at the border, for what the President, himself, has called a ‘crisis?'” Mayorkas said the crisis was caused by a system “that has not been fixed in 30 years.”
The promising bill got killed
Mayorkas discussed the bipartisan border deal that took months to prepare but was squashed in two days. He stated, “A bipartisan group of Senators has now presented us with the tools and resources we need — bipartisan group,” Mayorkas emphasized, and added, “And yet Congress killed it without even reading it.”
Will the President shut down the borders?
Welker asked, “Why doesn’t the president just shut down the border and let the courts just try to stop him?” NBC News wrote that the President considered taking executive action after the bipartisan deal fell through. Mayorkas said the administration is reviewing all “options available to us.”
Mayorkas called the impeachment articles “baseless”
Mayorkas said, “They’re baseless allegations, Kristen, and that’s why I really am not distracted by them and focused on the work of the Department of Homeland Security.”
House failed to impeach Mayorkas once
The House of Representatives will bring the issue to the floor in the upcoming days, and the Homeland Security Secretary could be impeached. The House wants to sanction Mayorkas for what the impeachment resolution called his “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law.”
Republicans who saved Mayorkas
Among those who voted against the impeachment was Colorado’s Ken Buck, who said, “This is not a high crime or misdemeanor.” He reminded, “It’s not an impeachable offense. This is a policy difference.” Buck is not seeking re-election, nor is Wisconsin’s Mike Gallagher, who also voted “no” to the impeachment.
Another vote that saved Mayorkas
Tom McClintock, a Republican from California, called the efforts “delusional” and added it failed “to identify an impeachable crime that Mayorkas has committed.” Steve Scalise was absent for health reasons, while Utah representative Blake Moore voted “no” only for a procedural reason to bring the issue back to the floor.
Speaker Johnson’s comments after the vote
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said after the failed impeachment, “Sometimes when you’re counting votes, and people show up when they’re not expected to be in the building, it changes the equation.” He was likely referring to the Democrat from Texas, Al Greene, who rushed to the Capitol to vote despite just having an abdominal surgery. Greene said it was for “personal” reasons.
Mayorkas on Hur’s report
Following Robert Hur’s report, which attacked President Biden’s cognitive decline, Mayorkas countered, “The most difficult part about a meeting with President Biden is preparing for it because he is sharp, intensely probing and detail-oriented.” He blasted Hur over “gratuitous, unnecessary and inaccurate, personal remarks” presented in a nearly 400-page report that determined not to charge the President over classified documents.
The Biden administration issued a statement
In a statement to NBC News, the Biden administration said that impeaching Mayorkas “would be an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retribution that would do nothing to solve the challenges our Nation faces in securing the border.”
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