Mayorkas Defiant in Face of Impeachment Proceedings

Secretary Mayorkas is pushing back against House Republicans on claims central to the GOP’s impeachment effort against him Tuesday, as Democrats push for a border deal that Republicans are now pulling away from under pressure from President Trump.Ahead of a scheduled markup of an impeachment resolution against Mr. Mayorkas in the House Committee on Homeland Security, the secretary criticized the effort by House Republicans as “baseless and inaccurate.”“I assure you that your false accusations do not rattle me and do not divert me from the law enforcement and broader public service mission to which I have devoted most of my career and to which I remain devoted,” Mr. Mayorkas contends.The homeland security secretary denies Republican claims that he has willfully refused to enforce the law and has breached the public trust, which are central to the Republican effort to impeach Mr. Mayorkas.Mr. Mayorkas’s remarks came as the House Committee on Homeland Security began consideration of the articles of impeachment in what is called a markup session Tuesday, the first step in potentially impeaching the secretary.After the markup, the committee can recommend to send the resolution, alongside any changes, to the House floor. It’s not yet clear if Republicans will have the votes needed to successfully impeach the secretary — and, even if they do, the impeachment is highly unlikely to succeed in the Senate, which serves as the jury for the impeachment.Mr. Mayorkas’s comments also come in lieu of testimony before the committee. While House Republicans say that Mr. Mayorkas has been trying to dodge testimony for the better part of six months, he says he remains “committed to responding and will continue to respond in good faith.”Mr. Mayorkas also says he never received a response from the committee over his offer to testify, saying that instead it “changed course” and invited him to submit written testimony. The chairman of the committee, Mark Green, dismissed Mr. Mayorkas’s letter in a statement to Punchbowl News, saying it amounts to an “11th-hour response” that “demonstrates the lack of seriousness with which Secretary Mayorkas views his responsibilities to Congress and to the American people.”The House Committee on Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Sun.The exchange between Mr. Mayorkas and the committee comes not only as the House moves toward impeachment, but also as Mr. Trump rallies Republicans against potential border security legislation coming out of the Senate.After months of negotiations, the Senate is expected to release the text of bipartisan legislation this week that would couple aid to Ukraine and Israel with funding for security measures at the southern border.Although Republicans initially framed the border measures as a price Democrats would have to pay to secure foreign aid, many in the GOP have since soured on the deal, like Speaker Johnson, who has echoed Mr. Trump’s position that no legislation is needed to change American border policies, but rather what’s needed is more effective action by President Biden and the homeland security department.In a statement Monday, Mr. Trump reiterated his opposition to any legislation on the border, saying a “Border Bill is not necessary,” and suggesting that the legislation would only be a way to put the “BORDER DISASTER onto the shoulders of the Republicans.”“I didn’t need a big, complex Democrat-oriented Border Bill, which will make Republicans look bad, I just closed the Border, and had, by far, the Safest Border in the History of our Country,” Mr. Trump said.Mr. Biden has also shifted his position on the issue, coming out in support of a bill that would give him the authority to “shut down” the border. “If given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law,” Mr. Biden said in a statement Friday. Mr. Mayorkas also gestured toward the potential deal in his letter to the committee, saying we “need a legislative solution, and only Congress can provide it.“I have been privileged to join a bipartisan group of United States Senators these past several months,” Mr. Mayorakas wrote. “These efforts would yield significant new enforcement tools and make a substantial difference at our border.”

Mayorkas Defiant in Face of Impeachment Proceedings

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