What a hero! Al Green, a 76-year-old Black Democratic Representative from Texas who Republicans thought could not show up because he was having surgery, rushed into the House of Representatives in a wheelchair, hospital scrubs, and no shoes at the last minute to vote, surprising House Republicans and thwarting their plans. Democrats just keep showing up for justice, even when it’s very, very hard.
A monthslong GOP campaign to oust Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas collapsed in the House on Tuesday after Democrats and a trio of skeptical Republicans voted to reject a resolution to impeach him over his handling of the southern border....
The House impeachment vote went down to the wire with GOP lawmakers saying moments before the vote that they didn’t know the outcome. At one moment during the suspenseful roll call, Republicans thought they had enough members to impeach Mayorkas when someone pushed Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, onto the floor in a wheelchair and he cast his no vote. Lawmakers believed that Green was out sick and he had missed all previous votes in the day, but his last-minute showing tied things up at 215-215, shocking the chamber.
"I had to go to the emergency room and I had to have surgery, so it's not easy to leave a hospital and get back here," Green said after the vote, wearing blue hospital scrubs and socks. "So I always intended to show up. Mr. Mayorkas is a good man; that was a bad move. I had to be here."
www.nbcnews.com/...
Of course Marjorie Taylor Greene, the unhinged Republican who initiated the impeachment proceedings, had a delusional take on this: www.bbc.com/...
The 76-year-old's trip from the emergency room where he was having abdominal surgery was decisive….
Mr Green spoke to his doctors on whether he could leave for a moment to cast his vote, and later had transportation arranged for him by Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.…
Mr Green, who has served as a House representative for the 9th district of Texas since 2005, said he believed Mr Mayorkas is a "good, decent man whose reputation should not be besmirched"….
The impeachment proceedings were initiated by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, and after the vote she said she would try again.
She also accused Democrats of playing a "game" for not revealing earlier that Mr Green would cast a vote despite being in hospital.
Here is an interview Al Green gave after the vote: