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Mayorkas impeachment: Reps. Lofgren & Spartz on House vote on DHS secretary
The US House of Representatives is voting on a Republican-led resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the immigration crisis on the southern border. On GZERO World, Ian Bremmer sat down with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who both sit on the House Immigration subcommittee, moments before the vote took place for their thoughts on the first impeachment of a cabinet secretary in modern history.
“[The impeachment] has nothing to do with meeting the constitutional standards,” Lofgren, former chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, tells Bremmer, “It’s a complete waste of time.”
House Democrats say the vote is unconstitutional and politically motivated, but the GOP, which has a razor-thin three-vote majority in the House, accuse Mayorkas of a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and beaching public trust.
“I always believe that ultimate responsibility lays [with] the top executive,” GOP Rep. and Ukrainian American Spartz argues, “We need to send the message that can’t allow executives not to do their duty to the public.”
Watch the full interview on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on public television beginning this Saturday, February 10. Check local listings.
DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Resigns: US Politics in 60 Seconds
What will Attorney General William Barr reveal about the Mueller Report when he testifies on the Hill?
I don't think very much he'll defend his summary and say that more will be revealed once the redaction period is over and you can put out the full report. So he'll probably evade a lot of tough questions.
Will DHS go in a tougher direction now that Secretary Nielsen is gone?
Trump certainly hope so. More zero-tolerance policy at the border, fewer asylum refugees let in, and he certainly wants to go much tougher with Secretary Neilsen gone.
Can Dems stop the logjam on emergency aid on Capitol Hill?
Well they'll try with a bill that adds money for disaster relief in the Midwest. But the issue of Puerto Rico disaster funding is still going to be a problem in the Senate. So I'm not sure the logjam is over.
Can the New York State legislature force the release of President Trump's tax returns?
Well they're certainly going to try with a new bill to do that. Democrats control the state so you'd think that they could but there's still a lot of questions about whether this would be a bad precedent to force the release of a single person's tax return. So the effort will be there. I'm not sure it'll be successful.
And go deeper on topics like cybersecurity and artificial intelligence at Microsoft on The Issues.