Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., one of four House Republicans to vote against impeaching Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday, said he's incompetent and likely one of the worst Cabinet officials ever, but that doesn't equate to a high crime or misdemeanor.
The impeachment effort fell short, 216-214.
Buck had already telegraphed his vote in a column on Monday. He reiterated his stance to the Washington Examiner on Tuesday.
"I think that Mayorkas is the worst Cabinet official in probably my lifetime," Buck told the Examiner. "But it doesn't mean that he has committed a high crime or misdemeanor."
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., agreed with Buck, writing in a 10-page memo that House Republicans, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., failed "to identify an impeachable crime that Mayorkas has committed." McClintock had also telegraphed how he would vote.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., was the wild card, with his GOP colleagues left to speculating until his vote, for which he did not offer an explanation, the Examiner reported.
Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, who favored impeachment, was the fourth Republican to vote no, but only to break a tie so that House Republicans can bring a motion to reconsider at a later time.
Republicans were missing House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., who was away from Washington, D.C., and missed the vote due to cancer treatment. He's expected to vote for impeachment.
"This is not over yet, and we still can bring back Steve Scalise," Greene said. "We hope that he's well and he can come back very soon," she added. "We look forward to having him come back. And we look forward to him being a solid yes."
Scalise would put Republicans over the threshold, though McClintock said his colleagues would be wise not to.
"During the Trump impeachments, the parties' roles were reversed," McClintock wrote. "[The Homeland Security Committee] should be careful not to risk its reputation — and that of the House of Representatives — by basing such a momentous step on such soft and shifting sand."