By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Mike Johnson will postpone sending the House’s articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate this week as previously planned, because Republican senators asked for more time on Tuesday to gather support for a full trial.
The sudden change of plans raised new doubts about the proceedings, the first impeachment of a Cabinet secretary in about 150 years. House Republicans impeached Mayorkas in February for his handling of the southern border, but delayed sending the articles while they finished work on government funding legislation.
Johnson had intended to send the impeachment charges to the Senate on Wednesday evening. But when it became clear that Democrats, who control the chamber, had the votes to quickly dismiss them, Senate Republicans asked Johnson to delay until next week, hoping to prolong the process.
While Republicans argued Tuesday that skipping a full Senate trial would break precedent, most Senate Republicans voted to do just that when Donald Trump was impeached a second time on charges he incited an insurrection in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. Their effort to halt the proceedings failed. Trump was ultimately acquitted in the Senate trial.
“Our members want to have an opportunity not only to debate but also to have some votes on issues they want to raise,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the second-ranking Republican Senate leader. Under procedural rules, senators are required to convene as jurors the day after the articles of impeachment are transmitted for a trial.
“There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial,” Johnson’s spokesman, Taylor Haulsee, said in a statement announcing the delay.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. D-N.Y., who has decried the impeachment push as a “sham,” suggested Democrats still plan to deal with the charges quickly.
“We’re ready to go whenever they are. We are sticking with our plan. We’re going to move this as expeditiously as possible,” Schumer said.
“Impeachment should never be used to settle policy disagreements,” he told reporters earlier Tuesday.
House Republicans accused Mayorkas of not only refusing to enforce existing law but also lying to Congress and saying the border was secure in two articles of impeachment.
Democrats — and a few Republicans — say the charges amount to a policy dispute, not the Constitution’s bar of high crimes and misdemeanors.
“Ultimately, I think it’s virtually certain that there will not be the conviction of someone when the constitutional test has not been met,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
Romney said he wasn't sure how he would vote on the Senate’s process, but wanted to express that “Mayorkas has done a terrible job, but he’s following the direction of the president and has not met the constitutional test of a high crime or misdemeanor.”
However, as the elections are getting closer, Republicans want to make Congress deal with the Biden administration's management of the southern border for as long as possible.
Thune mentioned, “Many Democrats want to avoid the vote. I can't blame them. This is the most important concern for Americans.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat facing a tough reelection in Ohio, called the impeachment trial a “distraction” and highlighted that Republican senators rejected a bipartisan deal aimed at reducing the number of illegal border crossings from Mexico.
Brown said, “Instead of this impeachment — the first one in 100 years — why don't we work on a bipartisan border deal?”
Before Mayorkas, only one U.S. cabinet official had ever been impeached: Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876. A House investigation revealed that he had received kickback payments while managing government contracts.
Belknap resigned, but the Senate still conducted a trial. The votes on all five impeachment charges against Belknap did not meet the two-thirds majority required for a conviction.
