Conservative Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) joined host John McArdle on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Wednesday morning to discuss the drama in the House the night before, in which a vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas failed.
McArdle noted that McClintock broke party ranks to vote against the impeachment and “took some heat from some of your Republican colleagues on that.”
“Not sure if you saw Marjorie Taylor Greene comments to reporters leaving that conference meeting, but this is about 40 seconds of it for you,” McArdle added before playing the clip.
“Mr. McClintock said that he’s not going to impeach my office today. He said it would unconstitutionally expand impeachment. What’s your reaction to that?” Greene is asked in the clip.
“Well, my reaction is clearly he’s not paying attention to the American people. And he is he’s failing his oath of office. That’s what I would say. I would say he needs to grow some courage and read the room. The room is our country. And the American people are fed up with millions of people abusing our laws. America’s breaking the law and allowing millions of people to invade. He needs to do the right thing. And I would urge all of my colleagues to do the right thing, grow some courage, and actually do something for once, for once in this Congress,” replied Greene, clearly frustrated.
“Congressman McClintock, your reaction?” followed up McArdle.
“Well, instead of reading the room, I suggest that maybe she read the Constitution. She took an oath to support and defend the Constitution that very clearly lays out the grounds for impeachment. This dumbs down those grounds dramatically and would set a precedent that could be turned against the conservatives on the Supreme Court or a future Republican administration. The moment the Democrats take control of the Congress,” McClintock responded.
McClintock also took calls from viewers, including one from an angry Republican in his district who pressed him on his “no” vote. McClintock repeated his argument, noting that the founding fathers made clear the standard for impeachment and he was unwilling to change it.
Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.
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