On the eve of this year’s midterm elections, the question is not whether Republicans will run an impeachment campaign in the next Congress, but how long the Republican impeachment list will become.
A month ago, that list included President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, and Federal Bureau of Investigation Chief Chris Wray. But the seventh member of the White House cabinet is of particular interest to Republicans.
Back in April, Republican lawmakers began “laying the groundwork” for the impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Majorcas, and in August Rep. Andy Bigger, chairman of the right-wing Freedom Caucus of the House of Representatives, Stanley actually proposed an impeachment resolution. (He has 32 co-authors.)
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is aware of the chit-chat but does not support the effort. In private, the future Speaker of the House told his lawmakers that he has other plans for the next Congress, five weeks after McCarthy publicly said today that no member of the Biden administration should be impeached.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy appeared with Republicans in El Paso, Texas on Tuesday to call for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Majorcas to resign for failing to protect the southern border. McCarthy warned that if Majorcas did not resign, Republicans in the House of Representatives would investigate him and his department to determine whether impeachment proceedings should be initiated.
“Unless Secretary of State Majorcas resigns,” McCarthy told reporters, “Republicans in the House of Representatives will review every order, every action and every failure and [and] decide whether we can open an impeachment inquiry.”
Why, tell me, why did the minority leader reject impeachment five weeks ago and only yesterday put forward this idea? This may have something to do with the fact that McCarthy is struggling to get the votes he needs to get the speaker’s gavel and that he’s finding new ways to impress his far-right critics.
It was an ugly combination: a weak leader, feeling hopeless, struggling to impress the reactionary radicals. As we’ve said before, McCarthy already appears to be making some very bad deals to garner support from the far right, and it’s not an exaggeration to think that his new vision of impeaching the Secretary of Homeland Security is part of that larger dynamic.
As for what happens in the new year, the House of Representatives can impeach any administration official by a simple majority vote, after which the case will go to the Senate. A two-thirds majority in the House of Lords is required to convict and remove an official. (Some prominent Republicans in the Senate told Majorcas to prepare for the hearing.)
For those interested in historical precedent, only one member of the cabinet has been impeached. In 1876, Secretary of War William Belknap was prosecuted for bribery after leaving office. He was later acquitted by the Senate.
Steve Benen is a producer on The Rachel Maddow Show, editor of MaddowBlog, and a political columnist for MSNBC. He is also the best-selling author of The Impostors: How the Republicans Gone Out of Control and Take Control of American Politics.
Post time: Nov-25-2022