Photo: Alamy
Amid Democrat efforts to block the impeachment trial of Joe Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Senate Republicans are fighting back by threatening to stop all business in the upper chamber until the official is forced to face his charges in a full, fair court procedure on Capitol Hill.
According to a report from Fox News, a source told the group that a standstill would include adjourning current motions, objections to regular business, and lengthy procedural actions like reading from the journal and recapping prior events.
The report further explained that this could help bring Senate Democrats into the fold regarding negotiating a trial for the secretary.
The DHS secretary became the first sitting cabinet member to face impeachment in over a century after the Republican House narrowly adopted two articles in February. Mayorkas has been accused of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust” in regards to his open-door immigration policies.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is scheduled to deliver the two impeachment articles to the Democrat-controlled Senate next week, where they will be delivered to Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
While Schumer has not yet publicly confirmed what he plans to do with the articles, several Democrat leaders have already expressed their plans to block these charges.
Rebutting the efforts, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., noted during a press conference this week that “A vote to block the impeachment trial is a vote to tell Laken Riley’s family that we don’t care,” should the charges be fought by Democrats.
“It’s a vote that tells 250,000 Americans who’ve lost a loved one to fentanyl poisoning, that we don’t care,” he added.
Alongside Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., John Kennedy, R-La., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Marshall and the senators predicted that Chuck Schumer “plans on halting” the impeachment trial, which would create dire consequences.
“You break the seal here, there will be no impeachment trials ever again,” Sen. Schmitt warned. “And Chuck Schumer likes to say history is watching—and I would like to remind him history is indeed watching.”
Sen. Johnson also suggested Biden and Democrats “want an open border” and that they “caused” the problems that plague the southern border.
Meanwhile, Sen. Blackburn accused Schumer of “playing politics” because he is worried Democrat senators facing a reelection bid “are very likely going to lose their seats” if they take a vote on the issue.
Sen. Cruz also doubled down on the impeachment, saying Mayorkas was “not only guilty of aiding and abetting the invasion that has happened for the last three and a half years and every dead body that has resulted, but he’s guilty tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day he intends to continue to facilitate and accelerate this criminal invasion.”
Impeachment rules cite that House managers, or members the speaker appoints to act like prosecutors, will read the impeachment charges on the Senate floor in the coming weeks, the Associated Press reported.
The AP also claimed that Schumer will have senators sworn in as jurors following the procedure that Republicans are advocating for a full trial.
Senate Pro Temopre Patty Murray, D-Wash., will also preside over the impeachment trial, as explained by her role as the most senior member of her party.