Senate dispenses with Mayorkas impeachment without a trial

Senate Republicans claimed Wednesday’s votes to avoid a trial damaged the institution, as Democrats sought to ignore damage done by the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of the major advocates for the chamber to hold a trial, made a motion on the floor and pointed out that the second of the two articles included an allegation that Mayorkas lied to Congress, a felony.

“If this is not impeachable, then what is?” Lee said.

Lee and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., have threatened that Republicans may withhold the unanimous consent usually required for the Senate floor to function in response to the votes.

After the votes, Schmitt told reporters the process “bulldozes 200 years of precedent and lights fire to our constitutional order,” echoing other Republican criticism of the vote.

Schumer called the Mayorkas impeachment the “least legitimate, least substantive and most politicized impeachment trial ever” that was meant to boost former President Donald Trump’s reelection chances, in a floor speech Wednesday.

Sen. Christopher S. Murphy, D-Conn., and other Democrats said the impeachment articles offered by Republicans were meritless and meant as a political ploy.

“This is merely an attempt to politically damage the president. Everybody knows it. And it would be irresponsible for us to treat it as a serious exercise of the impeachment clause of the Constitution,” Murphy told reporters after the votes.

Murphy also said he felt like Republican complaints about the process or the precedent set by Democrats were overblown.

“It’s the Senate. A precedent lasts until it’s overturned,” Murphy said. “Ultimately, votes control in the Senate.”

Biden administration spokesman Ian Sams praised the Senate vote to dispense with the impeachment in a statement Wednesday.

“President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas will continue doing their jobs to keep America safe and pursue actual solutions at the border, and Congressional Republicans should join them, instead of wasting time on baseless political stunts while killing real bipartisan border security reforms,” the statement said.

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