WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito advocates the Senate move ahead with a full impeachment trial of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Capito, in a conference call with West Virginia reporters Thursday, said the House impeachment action is now in the hands of the Senate and needs to be thoroughly engaged.
“He’s charged with making sure the border is safe and he’s failed miserably,” she said.
Capito noted the murder of Laken Riley in Athens, Georgia was an example of the failure of not only Mayorkas, but of the Biden Administration’s border policy. The young nursing student was killed allegedly at the hands of an illegal immigrant who despite repeated run-in’s with law enforcement was moving about freely in the country.
“That was a totally avoidable situation. The alleged assailant is an illegal immigrant who was here on parole. President Biden keeps paroling people into this country and it has to stop,” Capito said.
Capito said she supported a full trial on the Mayorkas matter, but noted it would be up to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer if that moves ahead.
Capito also noted the announced plan by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to step down from his leadership post.
“I’ve worked closely with Senator McConnell and have great respect for him and his respect for the institution. He gave I thought a very meaningful statement, you have to recognize when it’s time to move on and he wants to be still effective,” she said.
Asked if she might put her hat into the ring for an advanced leadership position, Capito was non-committal.
“I’m an elected member of the leadership team right now and I’ve still got a job to do. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing at the end of the year, so we’ve got plenty of time to sort all of that out,” she said.
A more pressing matter for Capito and Senate colleagues is the budget bill. She said it appeared, despite another extension, the spending bills appeared to be on track to pass in the coming days and avoid a government shutdown. Capito said a shutdown should be avoided at all costs and called it a “road to nowhere.” But she blamed the Democrats for the unenviable position Congress finds itself in again.
“I think it’s pretty obvious Senator Schumer and leaders in the Senate have decided on the Democrat side they don’t want to have spending bills. We passed all of these bi-partisan bills out of committee in July a full seven months ago. We only passed three in November and he refused to bring the rest of them up,” she said.
