The impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was unlikely to pass the Senate.
Convicting Mayorkas of high crimes and misdemeanors, which required support from two-thirds of a Democratic-controlled chamber, was doomed when two Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting the first vote on the measure in the House of Representatives. It was doomed when the second attempt passed the following week with one Republican vote.
And it was doomed to failure when the 100 senators were sworn in as jurors on Wednesday in the first impeachment trial of a cabinet member since 1876.
Republicans in the Senate, led by a group of hardline conservatives, including Roger Marshall of Kansas and Missouri Erik Schmittpushed forward anyway, calling for a full trial, while Democrats took immediate action to reject the articles of impeachment.
Within four hours, the Senate voted to reject both articles of impeachment, without either side presenting evidence. The votes fell largely on party lines. Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, joined the motion to dismiss the first article of impeachment but voted against the second motion.
Senator Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, was the first Republican to object to Schumer’s efforts.
“I will not assist Senator Schumer in setting fire to our Constitution,” Schmitt said, in a brief speech that his staff immediately cut and posted to social media.
Schmitt and Marshall have been pushing for a full trial for more than a week. Along with a group of conservative hardliners – Senator Rick Scott of Florida; Ted Cruz, from Texas; John Kennedy, of Louisiana; Ron Johnson, from Wisconsin; and Mike Lee of Florida – Scott has said anything short of a full trial would set a bad precedent.
“The Constitution requires that we have a trial,” Schmitt told The Star last Wednesday. ‘It’s one of the things we have to do as a Senate. If he destroys the impeachment process, there will never be another impeachment trial.”
Those same hardliners also helped destroy a bipartisan deal on immigration reform earlier this year, and arguments over the constitutional precedent of holding a trial quickly turned to politics and underscored the impeachment.
The Senate, along with the presidency, is up for grabs in November, and the historic wave of illegal crossings at the southern border has been a top issue for Republicans in the early election phase.
Senate Democrats hope to retain seats that have increasingly voted for Republican candidates, such as Montana and Ohio. The presidency will likely depend on swing states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona.
The House impeached Mayorkas on two counts: that he broke the law by not enforcing laws to detain people crossing the southern border, and that he knowingly made false statements when he said the border was safe.
Republicans have been quick to link the Biden administration’s policies to crimes committed by people who entered the country illegally, such as the murder of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was killed while jogging.
Scott asked reporters Wednesday to photograph their parents, siblings and children.
“People like your family have been raped, sold into human trafficking, murdered,” Scott said. “It happens.”
Marshall, the Kansas Republican, was quick to illustrate the potential political fallout from the trial.
“I certainly hope that people in states like Montana and Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada are paying attention,” Marshall said Wednesday. “They have the opportunity to contact their senator and ask them to initiate an impeachment trial. If they don’t, we must hold them accountable in November.”
Democrats also call the impeachment process a political ploy, but for different reasons. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, called the impeachment a “partisan hit” and said he supported a quick dismissal of the charges.
“Republicans in the House of Representatives waited nearly two months after voting to impeach Secretary Mayorkas before requesting a Senate trial,” Reed said. “And during that time, they actively blocked border security solutions between the two sides.”
Ultimately, only three impeachment managers from the House of Representatives showed up for the trial. Mayorkas has never formally announced a defense team.
Hardliners have vowed to slow down an already frigid Senate if Democrats dismiss the charges without a full trial.
“Everything has to be on the table,” Scott said. “This is ridiculous. We have families across the country who have been devastated by this. And so we need to take this very seriously and hold the Senate accountable for not doing its job.”
So far, most of the Republican caucus in the Senate has participated. Sen. Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, wrote a letter last week, signed by 43 Republicans, urging Schumer to hold a full trial.
