By Bethany Blankley (The Center Square)
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee told Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas he lied under oath. They said he didn’t prepare for the hearing by responding to requests for information by the committee and wouldn’t answer questions. They also told him he should resign or be impeached.
RELATED: Cruz to Mayorkas: ‘If You Had Integrity, You Would Resign’
Mayorkas appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, which held a hearing on the “Oversight of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” Prior to the hearing, its chairman, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, asked Mayorkas to provide specific data about encounters with illegal foreign nationals, including details about asylum claims being processed. Mayorkas did not appear to provide the information.
After U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, repeatedly asked Mayorkas how many people have been released into the U.S. and deported under Mayorkas’ watch and he wouldn’t answer, Jordan asked the same questions.
“How many illegal aliens has the Biden administration released into the United States?” he asked. “How many illegal aliens has the Biden administration removed from the United States?”
Mayorkas said he would provide the committee with whatever data they requested, after Jordan requested the data prior to the hearing.
“We asked you to be prepared to answer the question,” Jordan said. “The fact that you won’t is bad, the fact that you don’t know is bad.”
Jordan reiterated that Americans want to know the answer. Mayorkas repeated the same reply, saying he will provide the data; “we have been cooperating with the committee.”
RELATED: Why Hasn’t the GOP Yet Walked the Walk on Its Mayorkas Impeachment Talk?
Jordan then showed the documents the committee received from DHS in response to questions it asked about its disinformation board created last year under Mayorkas.
The pages are blank.
How many illegal aliens has the Biden administration released into the United States?
How many illegal aliens has the Biden administration removed from the United States? pic.twitter.com/eJzIa5PqWu
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) July 26, 2023
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, thanked Mayorkas for “your performance. I have watched with fascination as you have danced and dodged and lied, yes lied. We know you’ve lied. You know you’ve lied; more importantly the American public knows that you lied throughout your testimony today.”
Mayorkas repeatedly claimed the border is secure, a claim U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-New York, also affirmed on Wednesday.
Referring to DHS’ disinformation board, Hageman said, “And yet you believe that you and your fellow architects of the censorship industrial complex think that you should be able to determine what is and isn’t true and what is and isn’t untrue.
“You are the walking, talking epitome of the very tyrant that our forefathers recognized would gravitate towards government service. It is because of people like you that they drafted the First Amendment. …You do not have the right to limit our freedom of speech … Thank God we have the First Amendment so that we can stop you from doing what you’ve been doing.”
Isn’t it ironic that the person in charge of the Biden ‘mis and mal information’ agency spent the day lying to Congress? Secretary Mayorkas has failed the American people and it’s time for him to resign or be removed from his position. pic.twitter.com/U0mACpWU0l
— Rep. Harriet Hageman (@RepHageman) July 26, 2023
Former Democrat turned Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew from New Jersey listed what he said were Mayorkas’ failures and said he must resign, and then asked if he would resign.
Mayorkas replied, “No, I will not. I am incredibly proud of the work that is performed at the Department of Homeland Security.”
In response, Van Drew said, “Secretary Mayorkas if you will not resign that leaves us with no other option. You should be impeached.”
.@Congressman_JVD: "Will you resign?"
MAYORKAS: "No, I will not. I am incredibly proud of the work that is performed in the Department of Homeland Security."@Congressman_JVD: "That us leaves with no other option. You should be impeached." pic.twitter.com/S1kmTLkFBJ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 26, 2023
RELATED: Biden Admin Ripped Apart for Whining About Illegal Aliens Being Bussed to Blue Cities
U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, told Mayorkas, “I’ve been in Congress seven years. I think you’re the most dishonest witness that has ever appeared before the Judiciary Committee. I think I speak for a lot of my colleagues. This is such a frustrating exercise … because our constituents want answers. They’re tired of open borders, they’re tired of people dying from fentanyl overdoses, and it’s your fault.”
Secretary Mayorkas is the MOST DISHONEST witness to sit before the Judiciary Committee in my 7 years in Congress.
He is personally responsible for the open border catastrophe, skyrocketing fentanyl deaths, and the human trafficking crisis — & the American people DESERVE answers. pic.twitter.com/6fTnlHNnFG
— Rep. Mike Johnson (@RepMikeJohnson) July 26, 2023
The hearing was held as 525 known or suspected terrorists have been apprehended attempting to illegally enter the U.S. so far this fiscal year, including one that was released into the U.S. by DHS last year.
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.
The post House Republicans Tell Mayorkas He’s Lying, Should Resign appeared first on The Political Insider.
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke out over the weekend to say that the last impeachment effort against former President Donald Trump was really about Democrats trying to “equate” the 74 million Americans who voted for him with “the couple hundred criminals who came in an ransacked the Capitol.”
Johnson explained that he feels that the “ultimate goal” for Democrats with this impeachment was to frame Trump’s supporters as indistinguishable from Capitol rioters.
“They really wanted to use impeachment as a vehicle because they wanted to equate all those tens of millions of Trump’s voters and all of his supporters and everybody who came to the rally, they wanted to equate all of those people with the couple hundred criminals who came in and ransacked the Capitol,” Johnson told Breitbart News.
“If [Democrats’] new impeachment standard is to take hold, most of the party leadership in the Democrats will have to be censured or impeached themselves,” he added. “I thought Trump’s attorneys did such a great job with their video montage where they showed all these guys — even the impeachment managers themselves — using the exact same language that they were trying to incriminate the president by using.”
“[Trump] has always stood for law and order and defense of the Constitution,” Johnson said emphatically. “He’s always opposed mob violence.”
Related: Lindsey Graham Says Mitch McConnell’s Anti-Trump Speech May Come Back To Bite Republicans
Later in the interview, Johnson predicted that congressional majorities will be using impeachment as political tools more often in the future.
“You are lowering the bar [for impeachment] now. You weaponized this,” he said. “You turned it into a political weapon to be used by the majority party against a president they don’t like. You opened a Pandora’s box that we may never be able to close again.”
Johnson added that he does not believe that the impeachment effort that Democrats just carried out was what the founding fathers had in mind when they framed the Constitution.
“What the Founders had in mind when they set up this impeachment article and the idea behind it was that it would be so serious that the decorum would be so appropriate for the weight of a moment like that,” Johnson explained.
Related: ‘Never-Trump’ Republicans Looking To Form Their Own Party
“It was sort of presupposed,” he added. “It was understood, of course, that you would afford due process. They didn’t need to spell out the federal rules of the civil procedure in the Constitution for something like this because they thought that everyone would be acting like adults.”
“This was not a constitutional exercise,” Johnson concluded. “What [Democrats] tried to do [is] to raise ‘cancel culture’ now to a constitutional level.”
This piece was written by James Samson on February 15, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
Read more at LifeZette:
Van Der Veen Owns Impeachment Trial Fourth Day
Former First Lady Melania Trump Announces That She’s Opened New Office At Mar-a-Lago
WH Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo Suspended For Reportedly Threatening, Demeaning Female Reporter
The post GOP Rep Says Impeachment Was Really About Dems Trying To Frame 74 Million Trump Voters As Capitol Rioters appeared first on The Political Insider.
Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson offered Nancy Pelosi some souvenir acquittal pens after the Senate voted ‘not guilty’ on articles of impeachment Wednesday.
Johnson, a member of President Trump’s impeachment defense team, can apparently troll with the best of them.
“Just in case Speaker Pelosi is too torn up to hand out acquittal pens, I went ahead and picked some up for our exceptional impeachment defense team,” Johnson tweeted.
First off – a ‘torn up’ pun referencing the House Speaker’s staged temper tantrum at the State of the Union is a thing of beauty.
Second, Johnson is subtly blasting Pelosi for her not-so-subtle impeachment signing ceremony last month, an event which was decidedly not somber, serious, or prayerful.
Just in case Speaker Pelosi is too torn up to hand out acquittal pens, I went ahead and picked some up for our exceptional #impeachment defense team. @Jim_Jordan @RepDLesko @RepRatcliffe @RepStefanik @RepMarkMeadows @RepLeeZeldin @RepDougCollins pic.twitter.com/dSybiT6l6d
— Rep. Mike Johnson (@RepMikeJohnson) February 5, 2020
RELATED: Trump Acquitted By U.S. Senate On All Charges
Nancy Pelosi was heavily criticized for holding an elaborate signing ceremony in which the articles of impeachment were passed to the Senate, despite insisting that it was a very somber thing the House had undertaken.
The event featured a myriad of golden pens handed out as mementos, smiles, picture taking, and fist pumps.
Senator Ted Cruz joked about the shiny, candy-like pens, deadpanning: “Given the circus in the House, I’m surprised she didn’t use crayons.”
Johnson celebrated not just with acquittal pens, but in an interview with NPR mocked the articles of impeachment as “weak on their face.”
“There was no real evidence or facts to back it up,” he said. “They [the House] did a shoddy job with it, and this was the ultimate result. And I think the record speaks for itself.”
Happy Acquittal Day, America!
You get four more years! And you get four more years! Everybody gets four more years!
Thank you @realDonaldTrump!#AcquittedForever #AcquittalDay pic.twitter.com/2RK6v9hx4q
— Rusty Weiss
(@rustyweiss74) February 5, 2020
RELATED: Ted Cruz Just Torpedoed Pelosi For Her Elaborate Impeachment Signing Ceremony
Pelosi has earned every last drop of the condescension and mockery she has flowing in her direction right now.
In an interview with ABC News, prior to her impeachment pen debacle, Pelosi said: “Let’s be optimistic about the future, a future that will not have Donald Trump in the White House one way or another.”
“(In) ten months we will have an election if we don’t have him removed sooner,” she predicted. “But, again, he’ll be impeached forever.”
Conservatives ran with that comment and created their own trending hashtag on Wednesday, ‘#AcquittedForever.’
“Today, the sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the full vindication and exoneration of President Donald J. Trump,” White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement. “As we have said all along, he is not guilty.”
We sure hope she wrote that statement using those fancy acquittal pens.
The post Rep. Mike Johnson Offers Nancy Pelosi Some Fancy Souvenir Acquittal Pens appeared first on The Political Insider.