GOP’s McClintock says his vote won’t change against Mayorkas impeachment

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said Monday that he will again vote against impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, just a week after he became one of only three House Republicans to oppose the historic effort to remove the Cabinet official.

“Well, the Constitution hasn’t changed since last week, so my vote is not going to change,” McClintock said in an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill,” when asked how he plans to vote Tuesday, when the House is expected to attempt a redo at last week’s failed impeachment vote.

“These are the same reasons I vigorously oppose the sham impeachment of Donald Trump. It dumbs down the standard for impeachment and assurance is going to become a constant fixture in our national life whenever the White House is held by one party and in the Congress by the other,” McClintock said.

McClintock said he has not faced pressure from his party, nor from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who suffered an embarrassing defeat last week when the impeachment vote failed to get sufficient support.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), who missed last week’s vote because he was getting cancer treatment, is expected to return Tuesday and provide the GOP the single vote needed to push the impeachment measure beyond the majority threshold.

“Mike [Johnson] called me, I explained my reasons, and he was very respectful of them. And that was it. I have not had any pressure put on me,” he said, adding, “Maybe it’s because, well, as Churchill said, they can’t kick me around. I’m not kickable.”

McClintock was joined by two House Republicans last week in opposition of the impeachment vote: Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), who had previously announced his retirement, and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who announced Saturday he would not seek reelection – just days after he broke with his party and opposed Mayorkas’s impeachment.

McClintock said in the interview he was “devastated” by Gallagher’s decision but that he would not seek the same path.

“I was devastated by Mike’s announcement because I think he is a very capable and principled individual. I don’t agree with him on everything, but you have to take his opinions very, very seriously, because he thinks them through. That’s exactly the kind of — and he stands by them — and I think that’s exactly the kind of person we need more of in the House of Representatives, not less of.”

McClintock also said he plans on supporting former President Trump’s bid for president even though he conceded Trump was not his first choice. He was not sure if Trump would oppose his reelection bid.

“The Hill” show on NewsNation airs Monday to Friday at 6 p.m. EST.

NewsNation is a cable news channel launched in 2021 by Nexstar Media Group, which owns and operates dozens of local television stations across the country and purchased The Hill in the fall of 2021.