April 17 (UPI) — The Senate on Wednesday dismissed both charges brought by House Republicans against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas just as his impeachment trial was getting underway in the 100-member body.
The first vote — which alleges Mayorkas had willfully refused to comply with immigration law — was voted down 51-49 along party lines.
On Wednesday ahead of the trial, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had called the charges “nakedly partisan” as members of the Senate were sworn in after noon as jurors for the impeachment trial.
At the trial and before the first vote to drop the first charge, Schumer said it “does not allege conduct that rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor” and “therefore, is unconstitutional.”
Mayorkas previously had called both charges “baseless” allegations
The Senate voted to dismiss the second charge later in the day, doing so also on a 51-49 party-line vote.
“Our colleagues know that we are obligated to take these proceedings seriously,” outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the first vote to dismiss.
“This is what our oath prescribes. It is what the history and precedent require, and I would urge each of our colleagues to consider that this is what our framers actually envisioned,” McConnell said.
The House on Tuesday officially delivered the impeachment articles to the Democratic-controlled Senate.
On the CBS Mornings show Wednesday morning, Mayorkas said, “As they work on impeachment, I’m working on the mission of the Department of Homeland Security.”
In a letter last week to Schumer, 43 GOP senators had demanded a trial be held by pointing to historical precedent.
“Let’s not kid ourselves about what’s going on today,” Schumer said. “The impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas has noting to do with crimes and misdemeanors and everything to do with helping Donald Trump on the campaign trail.”
“To validate this gross abuse by the House would be a grave mistake and could set a dangerous precedent for the future,” Schumer said.
“For the sake of the Senate’s integrity, and to protect impeachment for those rare cases [in which] we truly need it, senators should dismiss today’s charges,” the New York Democrat said.
The senate’s outgoing Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., previously had stated that he believed it would be a “mistake” for the Senate not to move forward with its constitutional duty to have a full trial on Mayorkas.
On Wednesday ahead of Senate business, House Speaker Mike Johnson took to social media to say that, if the Senate “fails to hold a trial, it is an endorsement of Biden’s border catastrophe.”
Earlier this year, a bipartisan immigration agreement died in the Senate after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump voiced his opposition to it, causing fellow GOP lawmakers to fall in line and oppose it, too.
Ahead of the Senate trial, Louisiana’s Republican Sen. John Kennedy told reporters in the Capitol that President Joe Biden and others “don’t want to hold a trial for political reasons,” he said.
However, the White House has no role in the Senate impeachment attempt and reports say President Biden hasn’t even reached out to moderate Republicans in any way on the issue.
