Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that he “expects” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to table the motion to hold an impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas next week.
“Schumer will be able to file a motion to dismiss or table. I expect he will do that,” the Republican leader told the Kentucky Lantern during a press gaggle in Shelbyville.
“And the Democrats have a majority, so it may not go on very long. But my preference would be to actually have a trial. But I think the majority is likely to prevent that.”
Schumer (D-NY) has not tipped his hand about a potential trial date for President Biden’s beleaguered border enforcement czar, committing only to swearing in jurors once the two articles of impeachment are delivered on April 10.
After being sworn in, any US senator serving as a juror could motion to table or dismiss the articles, which requires a simple majority of the Democrat-controlled upper chamber to approve.
Schumer has also dismissed the impeachment push against Mayorkas as a “new low for House Republicans” and claimed the “only reason for this impeachment is for Speaker Johnson to further appease Donald Trump.”
Johnson (R-La.) has urged the Democratic leader to hold a “public trial” of Mayorkas to hear arguments in favor of impeaching the Cabinet official for failing to enforce immigration law and lying to Congress about the US border being “secure.”
“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has violated the public trust and willfully refused to follow federal immigration laws,” Johnson said in a statement. “He deserves to be impeached and the American people demand that those responsible for the border crisis be held accountable.”
“If he cares about the Constitution and ending the devastation caused by Biden’s border catastrophe, Senator Schumer will quickly schedule a full public trial and hear the arguments put forth by our impeachment managers,” he added.
The last Cabinet official to be impeached was Secretary of War William Belknap, who resigned from office in 1876 before the House held a vote on five articles relating to his corruption. He was acquitted months later in the Senate.
The Department of Homeland Security has dismissed the impeachment vote — which failed in the House on its first try — as a “farce” and “distraction from other vital national security priorities.”
After a second vote narrowly impeached Mayorkas, Biden, 81, called the move a “political stunt” and attacked House Republicans for tanking a bipartisan Senate border bill earlier this year.