Five Republicans helped block a censure motion against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) for obstructing and assaulting federal agents.
The New Jersey Democrat was criminally charged for allegedly assaulting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials outside a detention facility.
The House voted 215-207 to reject the resolution brought by Clay Higgins (R-LA).
The move would have removed McIver from the Homeland Security Committee.
“Had she withdrawn from the Homeland Security Committee, I certainly wouldn’t have offered a resolution, even though censure [is] legitimate and called for,” he said.
The five Republicans who voted to kill the measure are Reps. Don Bacon and Mike Flood of Nebraska, Dave Joyce and Mike Turner of Ohio, and David Valadao of California.
All Democrats voted no.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) and Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) voted “present.”
Notably, Garbarino, who is known to be a moderate, has been the chair of the Homeland Security Committee since July.
Turner later said his vote was in error, but it would not have impacted the outcome.
Garbarino called the vote premature without a complete House Ethics investigation.
“I voted ‘present’ in order to preserve the integrity of the investigation and to comply with Committee rules and fundamental due process considerations requiring that Ethics Committee Members make impartial and unbiased decisions,” Garbarino said.
McIver has been charged with assaulting and interfering with immigration officers outside the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark during a visit in May.
Prosecutors released bodycam footage that they said shows McIver grabbing and shoving Department of Homeland Security officials outside the facility.
Democrats have rallied to McIver’s defense, portraying her as a victim of political retribution who was carrying out legitimate congressional oversight.
“We were all elected to do the people’s work,” McIver said before the censure vote.
“I take that responsibility seriously — Clay Higgins clearly does not.”
The criminal case against McIver was brought by U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, whose authority has been challenged in the courts.
An Obama-appointed judge ruled recently that she is serving “unlawfully.”
However, Habba has said she is the target of dirty politics by partisan judges and Democrats who have obstructed her appointment.
Both of New Jersey’s Democrat senators have refused to advance Habba’s nomination, using a traditional courtesy called the blue slip.
The move gives deference to home-state senators when considering nominees for U.S. attorney and the federal courts.
Despite Trump’s demands to scrap the blue slip, Senate Republicans have defended it so far.
READ MORE – Democrat LaMonica McIver Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Charges for Assaulting ICE
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