Senate Tosses Mayorkas Impeachment Without Trial

Last updated on August 7th, 2024 at 04:29 pm

The Democrat-led U.S. Senate voted to dismiss two impeachment articles against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, ending the impeachment case without a Senate trial for the first time in U.S. history.

The Republican-led House approved two articles of impeachment against Mayorkas in February, alleging he has failed to comply with federal immigration laws, and has breached the public trust by lying to Congress and hindering their investigations into his handling of border enforcement.

On Wednesday, the 48 Democrats and three independents who caucus with Senate Democrats introduced motions to dismiss the two impeachment articles, declaring neither article describes conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor.

“The charges brought against Secretary Mayorkas failed to meet the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors. To validate this gross abuse by the House would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said ahead of the impeachment trial. “For the sake of the Senate’s integrity and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) pushed back on Schumer’s dismissal arguments, stating he challenged the idea that the second impeachment article’s charge that Mayorkas lied to Congress does indeed describe an impeachable offense, but he said the Democrat-led Senate voted down his argument.

Schumer literally just argued that the offense Mayorkas is charged with in article II of the impeachment articles — knowingly making false statements to Congress — is not impeachable.

I made a motion to allow the Senate to debate this question.

Dems voted it down. #Silenced

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) April 17, 2024

The first article was dismissed by a vote of 51-48, with all but one Republican senator voting against the motion to dismiss the article. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted “present” for that first article.

The second article was dismissed by a party-line 51-49 vote, with Murkowski this time joining the other Republican senators seeking a trial on the charge that Mayorkas had breached public trust through lies and obstruction.

The back-to-back Wednesday votes mark the first time in history the Senate has voted to dismiss an impeachment without first hearing the case.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said the party-line decision to dismiss the impeachment charges “proves definitively that there was no evidence or Constitutional grounds to justify impeachment.”

The Senate votes to dismiss the case without a trial drew rebuke from the Republican-led House, which also approved the impeachment without any support from House Democrats.

The statement, by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) reads:

By voting unanimously to bypass their constitutional responsibility, every single Senate Democrat has issued their full endorsement of the Biden Administration’s dangerous open border policies. Secretary Mayorkas alongside President Biden has used nearly every tool at his disposal to engineer the greatest humanitarian and national security catastrophe at our borders in American history. Tragically, Senate Democrats don’t believe this catastrophe merits their time or a discussion on the Senate floor. Instead, they’re signaling to millions demanding accountability that the cabinet official directly responsible for this disaster – who has ignored the law and misled Congress repeatedly – is above reproach. The American people will hold Senate Democrats accountable for this shameful display.