The Senate voted Wednesday to dismiss two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, shutting down the possibility of a lengthy Senate trial, which Republicans had demanded to bring attention to the Biden administration’s record on immigration and border security.
It marked the first time in 225 years the Senate voted to immediately dismiss impeachment charges approved by the House instead of holding a floor trial or referring the matter to a special committee to review it.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued a trial wasn't necessary because the House had sent over “the least legitimate, least substantive and most politicized impeachment trial ever in the history of the United States.”
“The charges brought against Secretary Mayorkas fail to meet the high standards 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,” he warned.
The Senate voted to dismiss the charges by sustaining two points of order raised by Schumer asserting that they did not rise “to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor” as required by the Constitution.
Schumer moved to quash the charges immediately after first-term Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) objected to a unanimous consent request by Schumer to give senators time to debate the trial procedure and to consider resolutions sponsored by Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to either hold a full trial or send the impeachment to a special committee for thorough review.
Schmitt was protesting Schumer’s plan to eventually move to dismiss the impeachment after defeating the motions to hold a trial or refer it to committee.
Cruz tried to block Schumer’s move to dismiss the charges by offering a motion to send the Senate into a private session to debate the constitutionality of the impeachment, but Democrats voted it down.
Republicans offered several other motions to delay Schumer’s bid to avoid a trial, including motions to adjourn the proceedings to a later date and to table the Democratic........