House Speaker Mike Johnson will delay the transmission of two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas — pushing the process’ start until next week.
The action was supposed to have taken place on Thursday, April 11th. But Johnson’s spokesman, Taylor Haulsee, said in a statement that the Speaker wanted to ensure the Senate has adequate time to perform its constitutional duty. Hauslee said, “There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial.”
Transmission of the articles would trigger the Senate to take its next moves on the same day. Republicans are hoping for a full-scale trial on the Senate floor, but many in the Senate do not believe it’s likely to occur.
Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the No. 3 Republican who is angling to become the GOP whip this fall, said Democrats are trying to “nuke impeachment” by burying the trial.
“Democrats are culpable, they coddle the criminals, and Chuck Schumer is afraid that if this damaging evidence comes out, it is going to hurt them in November, and their major concern is job security in November — not border security or the security of our nation,” Barrasso said. “Republicans are committed to a secure border and making sure the American people get the accountability that we all deserve.”
Republicans voted 214-to-213 to impeach Mayorkas on February 13. They say Mayorkas has failed to enforce border laws amid a crisis of high illegal immigration. The Secretary has denied the charges as “baseless.”
Delaying the transmission of Mayorkas’ impeachment articles could potentially help Senate Republicans avoid an attendance issue if debate over the impeachment extends into Thursday evening. Senate Republicans will want to be present in full force to vote against dismissing the trial in the event that a single Democrat defects and decides to vote to advance one.
Democrats control 51 seats in the Senate, so if they stick together, they can dismiss a trial without any GOP support if they so choose.
After Johnson announced he would delay transmission of the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas to next week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that the Senate stands ready to receive the articles whenever Johnson chooses to send them along.
“We’re ready to go whenever they are,” Schumer said. “We are sticking with our plan, we are going to move this as expeditiously as possible.”
