Republican Congressman Slams Mayorkas Vote: ‘This Is a Terrible Impeachment’

Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) blasted the impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas moments after voting against it on Tuesday night.

Buck was one of just three Republicans to vote against the impeachment resolution in what turned out to be a razor-thin 214-213 vote. House leadership tried to impeach Mayorkas last week but fell just short. Buck and those same two Republicans – Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) – also voted against the resolution again.

Shortly after the vote closed, Buck appeared on CNN’s OutFront, where host Erin Burnett asked him if ever reconsidered his “no” vote.

“Did you reconsider your vote at all before tonight?” she asked. “Because you were receiving a lot of backlash. I would tune into Fox News occasionally. I would hear your name always used in vain on this particular issue. Did you reconsider at all?”

Buck replied:

No. The reality is, the facts didn’t change in my opinion of him. I prosecuted for 25 years. I know what a high crime and misdemeanor are and I know that this doesn’t qualify. This is a policy difference.

You can try to put lipstick on this pig. It is still a pig. And this is a terrible impeachment. It sets a terrible precedent. The first impeachment of Donald Trump was a bad impeachment. And we’ve got to stop this in this body, or we are going to lose our credibility with the– further lose our credibility with you the American public.

Mayorkas became just the second cabinet official in U.S. history to be impeachment. The other was Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876.