Nearly the entire Republican conference is calling on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to ensure a full impeachment trial is held for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as the House prepares to transmit the articles of impeachment over to the Senate next week.
In a letter sent to Schumer, 43 GOP senators led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) urged the Senate to “uphold its constitutional responsibility to properly adjudicate the House of Representatives’ impeachment of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.”
Six Republicans did not sign the letter, including several who have questioned whether the House had presented enough evidence to prove Mayorkas committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” while enacting President Joe Biden’s border policies, such as Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitt Romney (R-UT).
Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Rand Paul (R-KY) did not sign the letter, although it’s unclear why they decided not to be part of the effort. Tuberville has been outspoken about the need for a full Senate trial, while Cassidy said this week that he would not support a measure to table impeachment charges.
The letter comes as Democrats have signaled they plan to dismiss the charges against Mayorkas swiftly in an effort to move past the trial and remind voters that Republicans tanked a border deal earlier this year. However, Schumer has not publicly said what his plans are for the impeachment trial.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) decided to deliver the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas to Schumer next week instead of on Wednesday so that senators would be able to devote more time to the matter toward the beginning of a work week.
“We’re ready to go whenever they are,” Schumer said, speaking to reporters this week after Johnson delayed delivery of Mayorkas’s impeachment articles. “We’re sticking with our plan. We’re going to move this as expeditiously as possible.”
“Since 1797, twenty-one individuals have been impeached by the House of Representatives. Trials were held in every single instance, except once when an impeached judge resigned from office before trial commenced,” the senators wrote in their letter to Schumer.
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Republicans continue to raise concerns that Senate Democrats could seek a procedural tool to end the trial quickly with a motion to table, which could pass with a simple majority of 51-49. A group of Senate Republicans have vowed to block all legislation in the upper chamber if Schumer doesn’t allow a full trial to play out.
“In the face of the disaster that mounts daily at our southern border and in communities across America, the House of Representatives has formally accused Alejandro Mayorkas of demeaning his office. The American people deserve to hear the evidence through a Senate trial in a court of impeachment,” the GOP lawmakers wrote.