The impending impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas marks a historic event, as it would be the first impeachment of a Cabinet official in nearly 150 years.
House Republicans filed articles of impeachment against Mayorkas over his handling of the border crisis, which they blame on the secretary’s ineptitude. The drastic move has no modern precedent — the last impeachment of a Cabinet official was that of War Secretary William Belknap in 1876, who served under President Ulysses S. Grant.
Belknap served with distinction under Grant during the Civil War and was appointed secretary of war on the advice of William T. Sherman, then head of the Army. While spearheading several positive initiatives, Belknap came under scrutiny for charges of corruption considered excessive even within the corruption-ridden Grant administration.
The accusations reached their height during the trader post scandal, in which Belknap was found to be taking generous kickbacks from appointees to trader posts in the western frontier — trading hubs in military outposts that would trade with local Native Americans. Suspicion was first leveled against him when questions emerged as to how he was able to pay for frequent, luxurious Washington, D.C., parties on his Cabinet salary.
The House decried Belknap as “criminally disregarding his duty as Secretary of War and basely prostituting his high office to his lust for private gain.”
In his trial in the Senate, a majority voted against him, though they failed to reach the necessary two-thirds majority. Though he was acquitted over this failure, Belknap had already tearfully submitted his resignation to Grant.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Belknap’s policy of pushing for the sale of state-of-the-art repeating firearms to Native Americans while issuing faulty breech-loading rifles to military garrisons in the West to maximize profits would contribute heavily to the defeat and massacre of the 7th Cavalry Regiment under Gen. George Custer in the famous Battle of the Little Bighorn, according to historian John Koster. Belknap had resigned from his office shortly before the debacle, saving himself from punishment.
Mayorkas’s case is different from Belknap’s, as he isn’t being accused of corruption but instead of dereliction of duty. His impending impeachment will likely carry out differently, as unlike in Belknap’s time, the House and Senate are split almost evenly between the parties.
