One Republican switched Tuesday from backing the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to voting against it at the last minute — but not because he doesn’t support the idea.
The House of Representatives voted against impeaching Mayorkas 216-214, after Republican Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Tom McClintock of California and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin voted “no” to initially create a 215-215 tie. Republican Rep. Blake Moore of Utah switched his vote to “no” to be able to call for a motion to reconsider, according to Fox News.
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“I mentioned Blake Moore, the Republican from Utah, he moved to reconsider the vote,” Fox News reporter Chad Pergram said on “Special Report.” “This is after he switched his vote from yes to no. The reason that’s important is that this was going down at 215 to 215. By rule a tie vote loses in the House of Representatives. So, why would Blake Moore, who is now the vice chair of the Republican conference, who wants to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, switch his vote to no?”
A spokesperson from Moore’s office confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that Moore switched his vote to be able to bring the resolution up for another vote.
“Well, if you just have a straight vote, a tie vote here, it’s off the table. It’s done, but if you switch your vote to the prevailing side, in this case the no’s … they are able to recall this vote at some point,” Pergram continued. “Maybe not tonight. Maybe not in the next few days. Maybe when they get Steve Scalise, the majority leader back. Maybe if they win that special election on Long Island next week. If they win, they might have the votes to impeach. So, Blake More is not necessarily against impeachment but what he did is he switched so he was on the prevailing side. They didn’t have the votes. Otherwise, this was a done deal at 215 to 215.”
Mayorkas has previously claimed that the border is secure on multiple occasions, despite United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reporting 6.4 million encounters with illegal immigrants since the start of fiscal year 2021.
Harold Hutchison on February 6, 2024
