The Senate on Wednesday voted to dismiss the two articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Back in February, House Republicans approved of two articles to oust Mayorkas over his “failed leadership.” The first article alleged Mayorkas willfully and systemically refused to comply with the law on immigration policy and the second accused him of breaching public trust by repeatedly lying to Congress.
The Chamber quickly voted along party lines, 51-49, to dismiss both articles against the embattled secretary.
Mayorkas, the first cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years, had previously dismissed both allegations “baseless.”
Before the trial, Republicans argued that a thoughtful and thorough consideration of the articles should take place, given their importance to national security. Democrats, on the other hand, said they would seek to dismiss them as quickly as possible. Which they did.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked for unanimous consent on a plan to speed up the debate process before Democrats moved toward a motion to dismiss the charges.
Republicans objected.
“Never before in the history of our republic has the Senate dismissed or tabled articles of impeachment when the impeached individual was alive and had not resigned,” said Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) argued. “I will not assist Senator Schumer in setting our Constitution ablaze and bulldozing 200 years of precedent,” the senator added.
Within the first minutes of the trial, Schumer challenged the first impeachment article, telling his colleagues that the accusations against Mayorkas do “not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor as required under Article 2, Section 4 of the United States Constitution and it’s therefore unconstitutional under the precedents and practices of the Senate.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) accused Democrats of wanting to dismiss the articles out of “political expediency to avoid avoid listening to the arguments.”
Cruz made a motion for the Senate to move to closed session to allow deliberation on the first Article as required by impeachment rules. The Democrats voted this down.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) was incredulous that Schumer would argue that lying to Congress is not an impeachable offense. He noted on X that he made a motion to allow the Senate to debate the question in closed session, but the Democrats again voted it down.
Mayorkas has been accused of lying to Congress as recently as yesterday.
“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,” the frustrated Senator said.
After the votes, Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) blasted Schumer and the Senate Democrats on X for protecting “one of the worst cabinet members in history, Secretary Mayorkas.”
The Missouri Republican added: “The Senate is obligated to hold a full impeachment trial, and I fought on the floor to get that full trial. Mayorkas is responsible for the worst crisis at the Southern Border in American history, full stop. Senator Schumer and Senate Democrats diminished the institution of the Senate today, and set ablaze the Constitution and long-standing precedent. When Joe Biden and the Democrat Party talk about ‘threats to democracy,’ they need to take a good long look in the mirror.”
Cruz accused Democrats of facilitating child trafficking and abuse through their open border policies.
The senator told reporters on Tuesday: “The single greatest friend the human traffickers have ever had has been Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas.”