Republicans vote to impeach Mayorkas over border at second attempt: Live

Now that the US House of Representatives has voted to impeach Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of homeland security, the US Senate will have to hold a trial.

But Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, could choose not to bring Mr Mayorkas to trial at all.

If a trial even happens, the Senate would then need a 2/3 vote to convict Mr Mayorkas. However, with a Democratic majority in the Senate and many Republicans opposed to holding such a trial, such an outcome is unlikely.

“This sham impeachment effort is another embarrassment for House Republicans,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement.

“The one and only reason for this impeachment is for Speaker Johnson to further appease Donald Trump,” he said. “House Republicans failed to produce any evidence that Secretary Mayorkas has committed any crime. House Republicans failed to show he has violated the Constitution. House Republicans failed to present any evidence of anything resembling an impeachable offense.”

“This is a new low for House Republicans,” he continued.

Republicans Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Tom McClintock of California all voted against the impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, alongside all House Democrats.

“History will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games,” President Joe Biden said in a statement Tuesday evening. “Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas, a Cuban immigrant who came to the United States with his family as political refugees, has spent more than two decades serving America with integrity in a decorated career in law enforcement and public service.”

“From his time in the Justice Department as a U.S. Attorney to his service as Deputy Secretary and now Secretary of Homeland Security, he has upheld the rule of law faithfully and has demonstrated a deep commitment to the values that make our nation great,” he continued.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, praised the vote on Tuesday evening just moments after it was finalised.

“The Secretary certainly deserved that response,” Mr Johnson told The Independent. “Based upon his activity and inactivity over the last three years, he’s engineered the catastrophe that exacted untold damage on the country, and this is the appropriate step.”

The US House of Representatives impeached Alejandro Mayorkas in a party-line vote 214-213 on Tuesday evening, with nearly all Republicans voting in favour.

This makes Mr Mayorkas the first cabinet member to be impeached since Ulysses S Grant was President.

“The Mayorkas impeachment lark was the paltry consolation prize that the MAGA wing of the party got, because they’re not able to bring the Biden impeachment to the floor,” Rep Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told The Independent just minutes before the vote.

The House of Representatives is voting for a second time on whether to impeach Homeland Defense Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

In the first vote last week — which failed 216-214 — four Republicans joined all of the Democrats in voting down the impeachment effort.

Republican Reps Ken Buck of Colorado, Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and Tom McClintock of California voted against the measure. Utah Republican Rep Blake Moore changed his vote from yes to no late in the voting, a procedural move to allow the GOP majority to reconsider the measure at a later date under House rules.

Results are expected momentarily.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have reportedly reached out to Justice Department special counsel Robert Hur about the possibility of his testifying before the Judiciary Committee over his investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.

Mr Hur, a Republican former US attorney for Maryland appointed to the task by US attorney general Merrick Garland, caused a furore last week after publishing a report that found the president had “wilfully” held onto highly-sensitive material after leaving office as Barack Obama’s vice president in January 2017 and that they had not been securely stored at his Delaware home or Washington DC office.

He did not charge Mr Biden with a crime but did include an astonishingly personal attack, describing his subject as likely to appear to a jury as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.

Joe Sommerlad reports:

House Republicans were taunted over an “epic fail” after posting a tweet in which they claimed that a person who “mishandled classified information” was not fit to be president.

The post on Monday appeared to refer to Joe Biden, who was found to have “willfully” held onto documents after he left office as Barack Obama’s vice-president in January 2017, though many online users were quick to highlight the unintentional similarities with the party’s presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump.

Mr Biden is not facing any criminal charges over retaining the materials... but a certain former president is...

Mike Bedigan reports: