WASHINGTON — Sen. Ted Cruz called it likely that Republicans will impeach President Biden if they win control of the House in November’s elections, citing lax border policies as the most likely of “multiple” justifications.

“The Democrats weaponized impeachment. They used it for partisan purposes to go after Trump because they disagreed with him,” Cruz said on his podcast last week. “The more you weaponize it and turn it into a partisan cudgel — you know, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

The Texas Republican was an outspoken defender of Trump during his two impeachment trials, on allegations that he abused his office by pressuring Ukraine to tarnish Biden, and later that he incited the mob that invaded the U.S. Capitol hoping to overturn the 2020 election.

After echoing Trump’s unproven claims of widespread fraud, Cruz led the effort on Jan. 6 to nullify millions of votes in states that tipped the Electoral College in Biden’s favor.

At the White House, press secretary Jen Psaki had a tart response to Cruz’s comments at Tuesday’s briefing.

“Our reaction is maybe Senator Cruz can work with us on getting something done on comprehensive immigration reform and putting in place measures that will help make sure smart security is what we see at the border – taking a more humane approach to the border instead of name-calling, accusation-calling and making predictions of the future,” she said.

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Although Cruz lamented in his podcast that Democrats had, in his view, lowered the bar for impeachment, offered no qualms about Republicans using the same tool against Biden when they get the chance.

“There are potentially multiple grounds to consider for impeachment,” he said. “Probably the most compelling is the utter lawlessness of President Biden’s refusal to enforce the border – his decision to just defy federal immigration laws and allow 2 million people to come here unimpeded, in direct contravention of his obligation under Article Two of the Constitution to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

“That’s probably the strongest grounds right now for impeachment, but there may be others,” he said. “And because the Democrats decided this is just another tool in the partisan war chest, I think there’s a real risk that that turnabout will be fair play … whether it’s justified or not.”

Cruz made the comments on the Dec. 31 installment of “The Verdict,” a weekly podcast he started at the outset of Trump’s first impeachment trial two year ago.

That trial ended with guilty votes from 48 senators, including one Republican, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney – well short of the two-thirds needed.

“I said at the time, when we have a Democratic president and a Republican House, you can expect an impeachment proceeding. That’s not how impeachment is meant to work. But I think the Democrats crossed that line,” Cruz said. “There’ll be enormous pressure on a Republican House to begin impeachment proceedings.”

Democrats have always maintained that Trump’s impeachments were based on misconduct, not political differences.

Seven Republican senators voted to convict Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack. The vote was 57-43, which was 10 short of the supermajority needed to convict, though by that point Trump had already left office.

Cruz noted that most handicappers call it “overwhelmingly likely” that Republicans will retake the House after the November midterms. Democrats hold a slim nine-vote majority. The Senate is divided 50-50.


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