Biden's Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas faced questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, and Republicans grilled him on a number of Biden administration failures. Questions covered the administration's botched vetting of Afghan evacuees airlifted out of Kabul and the absurd plan to pay illegal immigrants with taxpayer funds, as well as Biden and his cabinet's decision to pour gas on the manufactured narrative that Border patrol agents were whipping illegal Haitian immigrants in Del Rio, Texas.
"What about the issue with your Border Patrol agents recently being accused by some folks in the media of whipping illegal immigrants when in fact they were not? Why on earth did you not defend them?" asked Senator Mike Lee (R-UT). Has "no one in your entire department ever become aware of how one uses split reins when riding a horse?"
Appearing squirmy as ever, Secretary Mayorkas attempted to answer: "Senator, let me say two things. Number one, I put 100 percent into my work and I'm incredibly proud to do so, that's number one. Number two, I stand with the men and women of our department through and through, and I will not pre-judge facts before..." he said before Senator Lee interrupted.
"Did you defend them when they were being attacked for whipping people, which they were not?" Lee asked.
"Senator, what I said quite clearly is that the independent investigation will determine the facts and those facts will drive the outcome," Mayorkas claimed, "nothing less and nothing more."
As Senator Lee pointed out, Mayorkas' "response and your failure to defend them — then and now — is nothing short of morale-crushing. If you want to maintain or obtain operational control of the border — which you do not now have — this is not a way to get there."
.@SenMikeLee just RIPPED Mayorkas for perpetuating a false narrative and not defending CBP agents who were falsely accused of whipping migrants at the southern border:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 16, 2021
"Has no one in your entire department ever become aware of how one uses split reigns when riding a horse?" pic.twitter.com/ZSFua6ZXdO
As Katie covered earlier on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security released an "update" on the investigation into the phony scandal that was little more than a manufactured crisis to draw attention away from Biden's complete failure to secure the border. Unsurprisingly, as the DHS update explains, "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) initially referred the investigation to DHS’s Office of Inspector General (OIG)" but "the OIG declined to investigate and referred the matter back to CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR)."
Maybe the Inspector General declined to investigate because there's... nothing to investigate?
"White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the investigation would conclude within one week," Katie reminded, "It's been months and there is still no conclusion." Even still, Mayorkas refuses to back up his own personnel who did nothing wrong, and fully embraced the investigation that his own agency's Inspector General refused to take up.
Senator Lee is right that the result of the faux scandal is "morale-crushing," and Mayorkas' response — including suspending mounted Border Patrol agents — only undercuts his ability to handle the crisis at the border. One that, for those keeping track at home, Mayorkas still refuses to call a "crisis."