Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed House Republicans for trying to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

“Republicans are dealing with not their first-choice speaker, not their second-choice speaker, not their third-choice speaker,” the New York Democrat said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “All in With Chris Hayes.”

The House fell short Tuesday in its attempt to impeach Mr. Mayorkas, whom Republicans accused of violating immigration laws by not containing the migrant flood.

Four Republicans joined with Democrats to tank the effort in a 216-214 vote. Rep. Tom McClintock of California joined with fellow Republican Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado and Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin to vote no. GOP Rep. Blake Moore of Utah changed his vote to no before the vote closed.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said the impeachment was “without merit.”

“There is absolutely no evidence for an impeachable offence. It is completely politicized,” she said.

She said House Republicans are dealing with a speaker “that they could get and that they could agree on.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, won the position after several nominations and rounds of voting. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez suggested he might not have the tools to unite the conference to get votes.

“And that means an individual that does not have experience in party leadership, that is a relative newcomer when it comes to the tenure of a member that you’re used to seeing when they typically get the speaker’s gavel,” she said. “And that means that the experience in vote-counting is not quite up to the standard that we usually see in a speakership.”

The Washington Times has reached out to Mr. Johnson’s office for comment.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.