“The House of Representatives will send articles of impeachment to the Senate next week to ensure the Senate has sufficient time to fulfill its constitutional obligations,” Johnson's spokesperson said. “There is no reason for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to conduct an impeachment trial.”
The statement came after Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) thanked Johnson at a press conference for moving the impeachment trial to “the beginning of the week of Congress rather than toward the end of Congress.” It was announced after the announcement was made.
“We don't want something like this to happen right before a member might be operating under the influence of jet fuel poisoning,” Lee explained.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D.N.Y.) — expected to take up consideration or reject the article — He said Tuesday that Democrats would stick to their original plan despite the delay.to dismiss or file a lawsuit, simple This requires a majority and means Democrats, who hold a 51-49 majority, have little or no margin for error. At least one Republican, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), has said he plans to vote against a full trial.
Schumer said the charges were “unreasonable” and did not meet the standards for impeachment, and suggested he would try to end the trial before it actually begins. “We intend to move forward and resolve this issue as quickly as possible. Again, impeachment should never be used to resolve policy disagreements.”
“We're ready for them to go at any time,” Schumer told reporters. “We are sticking to our plan. We intend to move this forward as quickly as possible.”
The articles of impeachment are expected to arrive in the Senate on the same day that Mayorkas appears on the floor to advocate for the DHS budget, where he will push for higher funding levels than the deal the White House and the White House agreed to last month. expected to request. Congress averts government shutdown. The deal has less funding than the bipartisan border deal that collapsed in February after Republicans halted efforts to fix the immigration system. By orders of former presidents and arrogants Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
House Republicans were supposed to introduce the article to the Senate on the back of testimony from the DHS secretary, who helped craft the bipartisan bill allocating $20 billion in emergency funds for border security and immigration — and previously announced that the agency lamented that it was “on the verge of eternal crisis.” “Financially starving” sector.
two The articles of impeachment charging Mr. Mayorkas with a “willful and systematic refusal to abide by the law” and a violation of the public trust have been hotly contested by Democrats, constitutional scholars, and some Republicans, and the charges have been pushed back by House Republicans. It is claimed that the bill passed with a narrow majority of votes. The vote earlier this year did not amount to a high crime or misdemeanor, but rather a difference in policy.
House Republicans argued that Mayorkas, who has broad legal discretion over enforcing border laws, violated provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that require the detention of immigrants subject to deportation. They said a 2021 memorandum signed by Mayorkas would force immigration authorities to prioritize who to detain in the U.S., given limited detention facilities and a huge immigration court backlog. It argues that this is contrary to the letter of the law. Republican lawmakers, led by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), also overstepped their authority to help Mayorkas expand the number of humanitarian parole programs available to immigrants. He blames it. These programs allow noncitizens to temporarily and legally live and work in the United States.
House Republican impeachment managers, including Rep. Greene, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas) and Rep. Andy Biggs (Arizona), passed the Capitol Hill. After the ceremony, the charges will be delivered to the Senate. , August Pfluger (Texas), Ben Klein (Virginia), Andrew R. Garbarino (New York), Michael Guest (Michigan), Harriet Hageman (Wyoming), Clay Higgins (Louisiana) , Laurel Lee (Florida).
Senators must collectively take the oath with their right hands raised as Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) was chosen to preside over the trial. – Read an oath pledging to uphold “impartial justice” in this matter. Next, all senators must sign the oath in groups of four in front of the chamber. Democrats are considering moving quickly to dismiss or litigate the case immediately after the process, which would require 51 votes to pass.
“We may try to postpone it. But we are hopeful that we can resolve those delays and give this impeachment the removal it so richly deserves,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. State) said.
Efforts that could extend the trial and force Democrats to take tough votes are increasingly likely to happen without senators rushing to board flights home.
On Tuesday, several Republicans argued that Democrats should not depart from precedent by skipping a trial and dismissing the charges. They intend to at least try to influence the process by introducing procedural obstacles such as raising the order. Certain acts or considerations that violate Senate procedure or law. Sen. Eric Schmidt (R-Missouri) said it would be “extremely dangerous” for Democrats to not fulfill what he called their “constitutional obligation” to go to trial.
“I'm going to do everything I can to make an impact. It’s the process by which we do our job,” Schmidt added.
Some House Republicans are pushing Johnson to postpone the trial, which has stalled since it passed the House after an embarrassing initial defeat in February when three Republicans voted against impeaching Mayorkas. Some people were secretly angry about the decision.
host Conservative senators have previously poured cold water on the charges and deemed them meaningless, criticizing the use of what was designed as a rarely used constitutional tool as a weapon of partisan warfare. . But most of them are determined to vote against the motion to dismiss the trial.
“I think we're at the point where we're in danger of using impeachment as a kind of vote of no confidence,” acknowledged Sen. Thom Tillis (RN.C.). “But I don't trust Mr. Mayorkas in that regard, because the border situation is out of control,” he added, dodging a question about whether Mr. Mayorkas had committed any felonies or misdemeanors.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), the lead Republican architect of the bipartisan border security agreement, said Republicans need to proceed with the trial as a matter of strictly adhering to historical precedent. Some said the case was a politically useful opportunity for Republicans to attack Democrats on immigration, where voters overwhelmingly support President Biden's response. Sen. Kevin Cramer, RN.D., called the article “a little strange,” but encouraged Republicans to “make the most of it.”
“The border issue is a really great issue for us to talk about as Republicans,” Cramer said. “My personal thought on that is, the House did it, so we're here now, so we should make the most of it. … Now that we're months out from the election, There's no question that the details of what's happening at the border are extremely useful to Republicans.”
Romney was the only Republican to say he would vote to dismiss the trial, saying the border was a “disaster” but Mayorkas had not committed a high crime or misdemeanor. Another defector candidate, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), declined to commit to claiming impartiality as a trial juror.
Democrats have accused Republicans of what Republicans called a “sham” impeachment process, highlighting the hypocrisy of the party's demands against Mayorkas while simultaneously disavowing him. of additional resources. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), a vulnerable Democrat up for re-election, left open the possibility of a trial if House Republicans include border security policy in articles of impeachment.
“The truth is, we had a chance to repair our borders and close them. And [Republicans] “Because there were people who said they wanted to keep this a political issue, and that's exactly what they continue to do,” Tester said of the Republican Party. “They could try to politicize this. And indeed, if it's a politicized document that we've seen in the House, I would vote to throw it out and get rid of it completely. If there's actually a policy out there that makes sense, I'm going to look at it and evaluate it from there.”
If anything, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who worked closely with Mr. Lankford on crafting the bipartisan border deal, told voters that Republicans had blocked the border compromise they wanted from Democrats. If reminded, an impeachment trial could be counterproductive, he said.
“People want to believe that the Republican Party is not sincere because of how much they talk about the border issue and how little they actually do to solve the problem,” Murphy said. “And I think this impeachment fiasco could backfire on them, because voters are wary of the fact that if they try to actually solve the problem, the Republican Party may get up in smoke and not catch fire.” This is because Japan has begun to address the immigration issue for the first time in a long time. ”