Sen. Mike Lee pushes for Mayorkas’ impeachement trial, Sen. Mitt Romney hasn’t ruled out voting no

Senate Democrats are eager to dismiss the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, but Republicans in the House and Senate are working together to move to a trial.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, signaled the House will send the impeachment articles to the Senate at the beginning of the legislative session next week instead of this week.

“I’m very grateful to Speaker (Mike) Johnson for his bold willingness to delay this,” Lee said at a press conference Tuesday. “We don’t want this to come over on the eve of the moment when members might be operating under the influence of jet-fume intoxication.”

White House spokesperson Ian Sams pushed back on the hold up, saying, “If Republicans actually believed this ‘impeachment’ was so urgent for the security of the border, then they wouldn’t have delayed sending it to the Senate for 2 months... or now delayed it again for another week,” in a post on X.

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Lee said the Senate has conducted an impeachment trial 17 out of 21 times after the House voted to impeach. The cases where a trial wasn’t held were dismissed because the official either resigned from office or died, Lee said. He accused Democrats of displaying “legislative tyranny” by attempting to “nuke” the articles of impeachment.

Lee said even if Democrats disagree Mayorkas defied enforcing federal laws to allow more than 430,000 unaccompanied minors and unvetted terror suspects to enter through the Southern border, then they should move to hold a trial because that can either prove his innocence or guilt.

The Utah senator previously told NBC News he “will be fighting on the Senate floor to ensure that both Secretary Mayorkas and the entire Congress remain accountable for the current invasion of America’s southern border.”

Lee was joined by other Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who also criticized the Biden administration over its handling of the southern border. Cruz said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wants to table the impeachment articles because he doesn’t want the evidence against Mayorkas and the current administration to surface and be presented in front of the American public.

Senate Democrats control the chamber 51-49 and could simply vote along party lines to dismiss the impeachment articles. Schumer hasn’t publicly laid out his plan for Mayorkas’ impeachment yet but in a “Dear Colleague” letter last week, he asked Democratic senators to be in attendance for the trial day, hinting at the possibility of a vote that requires the majority to be present.

Should one or two Democrats abandon ship, Republicans like Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, haven’t ruled out voting against a trial.

Romney told CNN Tuesday the Republican Party, including him, wants to “underscore how bad the mess is at the border and point out the president’s responsibility for that.”

But, he added, “Mayorkas is the wrong target. I think if we wanted to make that point clear it would be made pointed at President Biden — not his Cabinet secretary.”

Romney also told reporters he disagreed with his colleagues who insisted on a trial. “Precedent is a matter of interpretation in this case,” he said. “There have been impeachments that have been brought forward that did not go to trial in part because the people left office.”

In February, while visiting state lawmakers in Utah, Romney said, “I haven’t seen anything so far that suggests that he met the standard of a high crime or misdemeanor,” as the Deseret News reported.

“Now that doesn’t mean he’s done a good job. I think our border is a mess. But I blame the president, and the people the president has appointed are people who are following the president’s policies,” he added. “We’ll see if Secretary Mayorkas has gone beyond the president’s policies. If so, that would justify a careful look.”

Mayorkas says he isn’t concerned. “When I say that I am not focused on the impeachment proceedings, I actually mean it,” he told reporters Friday. “It is my hope that my time is not taken away from my work.”

On the second try, House Republicans passed the articles of impeachment in a 214-213 vote in mid-February. In the impeachment articles, Mayorkas is accused of violating “laws enacted by Congress regarding immigration and border security. In large part because of his unlawful conduct, millions of aliens have illegally entered the United States on an annual basis with many unlawfully remaining in the United States.”

This marked the first time a cabinet secretary was impeached since War Secretary William Belknap in 1876.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre quoted President Joe Biden, saying “History will not look kindly on House Republicans for this blatant act of unconstitutional partnership.”

“Instead of wasting time on these kinds of political games, Republicans should want Congress to deliver more resources and stronger border security,” she said, referring to the border security packaged with foreign aid to Ukraine and Taiwan that doesn’t have Republican support.

Next week, House managers, a group of prosecutors appointed by the speaker, will deliver the articles to the Senate floor by reading them aloud on the Senate floor.