Senate rejects impeachment articles against Mayorkas
The Senate dismissed all impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the House Republicans’ charges failed to meet “the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors” and could set a dangerous precedent.
“For the sake of the Senate’s integrity and to protect impeachment for those rare cases we truly need it, senators should dismiss today’s charges,”
An outright dismissal of House Republicans’ prosecution of Mayorkas, with no chance to argue the case
Republicans argue that President Joe Biden has been weak on the border as arrests for illegal crossings skyrocketed to more than 2 million people during the last two years of his term
House impeachment managers delivered the charges to the Senate on Tuesday, standing in the well of the Senate and reading them aloud to a captive audience.
The historic nature of the trial — the first time in nearly 150 years that a Cabinet secretary was impeached
there was a bit of the traditional pomp. As the trial began, senators approached the front of the Senate in groups of four to sign an oath book that is stored in the National Archives.
Angry Republicans called for several votes to delay the inevitable final outcome, but none of them passed as Democrats and three Independents held together.