Exclusive — ‘Completely Unconstitutional’: Rep. Tom McClintock Defends His Opposition to Mayorkas Impeachment

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) joined Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM Wednesday to defend his opposition to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) resolution to impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.

McClintock and seven other Republicans voted with Democrats Monday night to send Greene’s privileged resolution to the House Committee on Homeland Security, a procedural move that essentially killed the proposal.

“It’s completely unconstitutional,” McClintock told host Mike Slater of Greene’s effort. “Impeachment is a very limited power to remove officials for, quote, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors…”

“Now, Mayorkas is guilty of maladministration, neglect of duties, [and] malfeasance in office, but these are not impeachable offenses. And we know that because the American founders specifically rejected them at the Constitutional Convention, and the reason was they didn’t want impeachment twisted into a weapon for political grievances.”

“So if Greene and her friends are successful in redefining impeachment, well, then the next time the Democrats have the majority, I think we can expect this definition to be turned against the conservatives on the Supreme Court and any future Republican administration, and there’ll be nobody there to stop them because Republicans have then signed off on this new and unconstitutional definition of impeachment.”

McClintock held firm that “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors” are required before the House can impeach a homeland security secretary but that Mayorkas has not committed a crime.

“Interestingly, only one cabinet secretary has ever been impeached,” McClintock explained, referring to former President Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876. “He was impeached for, get this, running a family bribery scheme. Now, of course, there’s mounting evidence now that this is exactly what Joe Biden has been doing for years.”

“Yet, by trivializing the power of impeachment on Mayorkas, I think Greene and her friends are undermining the case that has to be made to the American people, that this is a legitimate use of the impeachment power.”

Slater discussed Belknap’s impeachment, pointing out he was impeached for using his position for private gain as well as “criminally disregarding his duty as Secretary of War. Could one argue that Mayorkas criminally disregarded his duty as homeland security secretary?” Slater asked.

McClintock was not sold that criminally disregarding one’s duty was covered by the Constitution, “but bribery is…That is also an impeachable offense. That’s what Marjorie Taylor Greene is undermining by trivializing the use of the impeachment power.”

He argued that impeaching Belknap for disregarding his duty was an example of many attempts over the years “to stretch that definition of high crimes and misdemeanors. There’s no question that has been used politically for years, but it is grotesquely unconstitutional.”

“We know that because we have the notes from the Constitutional Convention where the founders argued they did not want [impeachment] turned into a grab bag for any political grievance of the day. [James] Madison argued that that would turn the executive into a mere minister of the legislative branch, and that was totally undermining the separation of powers that’s at the heart of our Constitution that they believe was absolutely essential to protect our liberty.”

“By the way, I opposed the impeachment of Donald Trump for exactly the same reason. No actual crime was ever cited. And I don’t recall Ms. Greene attacking me for that stand. Hers is strictly situational ethics. That’s antithetical to our Constitution and to the whole American concept of the rule of law.”

McClintock disagreed with Slater that Greene and others have cited a specific crime committed by Mayorkas worthy of impeachment. Slater pointed out that Greene’s resolution specifies, among others, Mayorkas’s violation of the “Secure the Fence Act of 2006, which requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to maintain operational control over the entire international land and maritime borders of the United States, and operational control is defined as the prevention of all unlawful entries into United States.”

The congressman argued that by that strict definition, no secretary has ever adhered to the law, and he said Mayorkas, while doing a poor job, is carrying out Biden’s orders.

“Let’s remember that the illegal immigration crisis is the direct result of deliberate policies of this administration. Mayorkas is simply carrying out those policies as directed by the president.”

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He continued, “So even in a fantasy world, where you could get a two-thirds vote in the Senate to remove Mayorkas, the policies are going to continue. Elections have consequences, and if you voted for Joe Biden, this is exactly what you voted for. And if you’re surprised by that, you weren’t paying any attention.”

McClintock said the border crisis “can only be fixed at the ballot box by replacing Biden with a president who will actually secure the border as Donald Trump did.”

Slater claimed that Mayorkas lied to Congress — which is a federal crime — in a House hearing on April 28, 2022, when Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) asked him while under oath, “‘Will you testify under oath that we have operational control under the border?’ He said, ‘Yes, we do.’ So we clearly don’t. That’s not a matter of opinion.”

McClintock said that while Mayorkas has “distorted facts,” he deserves due process, contrasting Greene’s approach with the House “painstakingly assembling evidence” to determine if Biden has committed impeachable offenses. “If [Mayorkas] has lied to Congress, that charge needs to be brought before him.”

Slater pushed back on McClintock’s assertions that Republicans can forego any future misuse of impeachment by adhering to a different standard than Democrats already have used. “The Democrats already have done all those things. So it doesn’t matter what we do here or don’t do here. Next time Trump’s in office, they’re going to do all of those things no matter what you do. So you might as well do the right thing now.”

McClintock replied, “How do we stand against them if we’ve now agreed with them that this is the new standard of impeachment? We’re the only party that stands for the Constitution these days. And once we stop, there’s nothing to protect that Constitution.”

Slater ended by asking McClintock what is a hypothetical impeachable crime. “Any crime that was related to the office,” he replied. “For example, if the president accessed the tax records of an individual without legitimate reason under the law of using his authority, that would be a high crime.”

McClintock ended by casting doubts on the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton. “He committed the crime of perjury, but it was not related to the office. It was not a high crime. I don’t believe that that that impeachment was legitimate either.”

Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.