Mayorkas Impeachment Trial Set To Begin Wednesday, Though Schumer Likely To Dismiss Articles Before It Begins
It would be a ‘grave mistake’ to dismiss the articles without a trial, one House Republican impeachment manager tells the Sun.
Senators will be sworn in as jurors in the impeachment trial of the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, on Wednesday after House Republicans delivered their articles of impeachment to the upper chamber. Senator Schumer, however, could move to dismiss the trial proceedings immediately with the help of a simple majority of his colleagues.
On Tuesday, eleven GOP members, led by the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee — Congressman Mark Green — delivered to the Senate two articles of impeachment. One article says Mr Mayorkas has “willfully and systematically refused to comply” with the law, and the other says that he has “breached the public trust” in his handling of the southern border crisis.
Mr. Green and his colleagues are preparing to serve as impeachment managers, or prosecutors, in the case. Though their preparation may be for naught given Mr. Schumer’s plans. One of those impeachment managers, Congressman Michael Guest, tells the Sun that he and his colleagues have been preparing for weeks with in-person meetings, phone calls, and briefings from the speaker’s office on how to conduct the impeachment trial.
He also says that Mr. Schumer would set “a dangerous precedent” if he chooses to dismiss the articles out of hand.
“If there is no hearing and if the articles are not even referred to a committee to consider, I think it sets a very dangerous precedent going forward: that if the party that controls the Senate decides it won’t even have a trial for someone of their own party, I think … it basically takes away the power of impeachment altogether,” Mr. Guest says.
“I think it has a chilling process on impeachment and for our entire branch of government to be able to hold each other accountable,” he added.
Mr. Schumer only needs 50 other senators to join him in his bid to end the trial, should he choose to go that route. He already has enough votes on the Democratic side, and there are some GOP members who are open to doing so. Senator Tillis, in an exchange with the Sun, said he was open to such a move, saying that the trial would be a “waste of time” anyway because Mr. Mayorkas would never be convicted.
On Tuesday, Senator Romney told Axios that if Mr. Schumer allowed senators to debate a motion to end the trial immediately, he would be “open” to such a proposal.
