Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner criticized House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Friday over his “legislative thuggery” after calling for the resignation of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
McCarthy, a California Republican, said on Tuesday during a press conference in El Paso, Texas, that Mayorkas should resign over the way he is handling the U.S.-Mexico border and threatened that GOP lawmakers could consider impeaching the secretary next year if he didn’t resign.
Kirschner said that McCarthy’s threat is his “latest attempt at political bullying.”
“Kevin McCarthy’s latest legislative thuggery: tells DHS Secretary Mayorkas ‘resign or be impeached,'” Kirschner tweeted on Friday, along with a video he posted to Twitter about McCarthy’s remarks.
McCarthy cited some immigration-related issues as reasons for his call for Mayorkas to resign, including the Biden administration’s decision to end the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” policy, which limited immigration at the southern border, NBC News reported. McCarthy also referenced the administration’s effort to end Title 42, a COVID-19 policy that limited the entrance of asylum-seekers to curb the spread of the disease.
“His actions have produced the greatest wave of illegal immigration in recorded history. Our country may never recover from Secretary Mayorkas’ dereliction of duty,” McCarthy said Tuesday. “This is why today I am calling on the secretary to resign. He cannot and must not remain in that position. If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure, [and] will determine whether we can begin impeachment inquiry.”
In response to the House minority leader’s remarks, a DHS spokesperson said on Wednesday, according to NBC News, that “members of Congress can do better than point the finger at someone else; they should come to the table and work on solutions for our broken system and outdated laws, which have not been overhauled in over 40 years.”
The spokesperson added: “Secretary Mayorkas is proud to advance the noble mission of this Department, support its extraordinary workforce, and serve the American people. The Department will continue our work to enforce our laws and secure our border, while building a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system.”
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Kirschner on Friday also said that the House minority leader’s “political bullying” and his “abuse” of power and office is what McCarthy has left.
“He’s got no policies, He’s got no principles,” the former federal prosecutor said.
Meanwhile, House Republicans recently voted 188-31 by secret ballot to nominate McCarthy for House speaker as the GOP narrowly took control of the House in this year’s midterm elections. Since then, McCarthy has been vowing to take steps against some lawmakers by removing them from committees they serve on if he becomes the new speaker.
Last weekend, McCarthy said that he plans to remove Representatives Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, California Democrats, who both serve on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Newsweek reached out to McCarthy’s office for comment.
