'He is carrying out Biden's policies': Jonathan Turley discusses impeachment proceedings against Mayorkas
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Law School professor at George Washington University Jonathan Turley joined co-host Steve Doocy to share his concerns over the Republicans releasing articles of impeachment against the Secretary of Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, on the January 29 episode of 'Fox & Friends.'
Two articles have been released against Mayorkas. The first one notes the secretary's willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law, while the second one mentions a breach of public trust.
Does Alejandro Mayorkas qualify for impeachment?
According to Turley, the Republicans have not been able to establish a basis for impeachment ahead of marking up and voting on the articles on January 30.
"The fact is, impeachment is not for being a bad cabinet member or even being a bad person. It is a very narrow standard. Even though we took the language from the British, we adopted a much more narrow approach to impeachment," he launched into an explanation.
"The framers rejected terms like maladministration to make sure that we confined this. It's important to remember that we have only impeached one cabinet member in history, and that was viewed as a fairly abusive use of impeachment."
While supporting the claim that Mayorkas has not performed well as the Secretary of DHS, Turley reminded Doocy that he was doing "the job that President Biden apparently likes."
"He is carrying out Joe Biden's policies, and those policies have brought us where we are today, which is a natural security crisis," he continued. "I agree with Republicans on all those points, what I don't agree with is the means being used here."
Priority for enforcement of federal laws can be set by US President
When Doocy mentioned that the Senate won't pass the impeachment article with a two-thirds majority, Turley said that it was not his point of contention.
"If (one House) has a basis for impeachment, regardless of what the other house does, they have an obligation to proceed. I just don't believe that they have a cognizable basis here for impeachment," he stated.
"The first article is basically a disagreement about the level of enforcement being done by the administration. The Republicans are right, we have an open border and this is a huge crisis. But that is a policy judgment made by the President."
"The Courts have said that Presidents can give priority in the enforcement of federal laws, and this not the first President who has been challenged over the lack of enforcement at the border," he added.
