Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) has announced he will not seek reelection this year and will go “out with a win” after impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
During his Feb. 14 announcement on the Capitol’s steps, Rep. Green said he has achieved everything he set out to do and more, so he will not seek reelection. He was first elected to represent Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District in 2018.
“I’ve accomplished what I wanted to do. I wanted to get a great border security bill done,” Rep. Green said.
“We did that, and I wanted to hold the administration accountable and we just impeached, for the first time, a sitting Cabinet secretary,” he said.
Mr. Green helmed the Republican’s House impeachment effort of Mr. Mayorkas over several issues—chief among them being border security. The panel conducted a months-long investigation around his policies and management of the Homeland Security department. Ultimately, the Committee concluded that Mr. Mayorkas had committed conduct in the office that amounted to “high crimes and misdemeanors” worthy of impeachment.
Mr. Mayorkas was then narrowly impeached with just one vote to spare. It was the second attempt. The first failed, with three Republicans joining Democrats to defeat the resolution over concerns it didn’t meet the constitutional standards for the process. Mr. Mayorkas is now the first Cabinet official impeached in over a century, and the second in the history of the United States after Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876.
However, the question of whether Mr. Mayorkas will face any penalty is still up in the air. It will take a two-thirds vote in the Democrat-led Senate to convict. Mr. Mayorkas could face removal from office and disqualification from holding public offices in the future if convicted. It’s highly unlikely this will happen.
In his surprise announcement, Mr. Green did not give details as to what he plans to do next but alluded to taking on a new role soon. He also took the opportunity to call out what he saw as failures by the federal government.
“As I have done my entire life, I will continue serving this country, but in a new capacity,” he said.
“Our country, and our Congress, is broken beyond most means of repair; I have come to realize our fight is not here within Washington; our fight is with Washington,” Rep. Green added.
Rep. Green previously served as an Army surgeon and was elected to the Tennessee State Senate in 2012. He had flagged intentions to run for governor of Tennessee in 2017 but suspended his campaign after former President Donald Trump nominated him to become the Army secretary. He later had to withdraw his nomination after backlash over past comments about Muslims and the LGBTQ+ community.
He said at the time he was withdrawing because his nomination had become a distraction for the president. He also said his comments had been mischaracterized, leading to “false and misleading attacks against me.”
So far, Republican Caleb Stack has pulled petitions to run for Rep. Green’s now-open congressional district. At the same time, former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry announced last year she was planning to run as a Democrat for the seat.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
