Senate dismisses articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas: What happened
The Democrat-led chamber voted that both articles of impeachment brought by the House GOP were unconstitutional before adjourning the trial altogether.
The U.S. Senate voted to end the impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, a day after House Republicans delivered articles of impeachment against the nation's top border official to the Democratic-led upper chamber.
After voting that both articles of impeachment against Mayorkas were unconstitutional, the Senate voted 51-49 to adjourn the trial, with all Senate Democrats voting in favor and all Senate Republicans voting against.
?? How we got here
In February, the House impeached Mayorkas in a razor-thin 214-213 vote over his handling of the southern U.S. border.
A two-thirds majority would be needed to convict him in the Senate, which is virtually impossible given that Democrats have called the case against Mayorkas baseless.
Republicans allege that Mayorkas willfully failed to enforce southern border laws, which they claim led to millions of illegal border crossings.
On Tuesday afternoon, the 11 House Republicans named to prosecute the case against Mayorkas made the ceremonial walk across the U.S. Capitol to present the articles of impeachment to the Senate, which they read aloud on the Senate floor.
?? How did the DHS respond?
Homeland Security spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg accused Republicans of playing “political games” and highlighted Mayorkas’s work on a bipartisan border bill in the Senate that the House GOP blocked.
“Secretary Mayorkas spent months helping a bipartisan group of Senators craft a tough but fair bill that would give DHS the tools necessary to meet today’s border security challenges,” Ehrenberg said in a statement. “But the same House Republicans playing political games with this impeachment chose to block that bipartisan compromise.”
Mayorkas was the first Cabinet official to be impeached in nearly 150 years. The last time that happened was in 1876, when the House impeached Secretary of War William Belknap over kickbacks in government contracts.
?? What happened today?
The Senate met Wednesday to take up the articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. All 100 senators, including Senate President Pro Tem Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, were sworn in as jurors.
After a series of procedural motions, the Senate voted 51-48 that the first article of impeachment alleging Mayorkas "willfully and systemically refused to comply with federal immigration laws" was unconstitutional, effectively dismissing it. All 51 Democrats voted in favor. All Republicans voted against it except Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted “present.”
The Senate then voted 51-49 that the second article of impeachment alleging Mayorkas "breached the public trust" was also unconstitutional, with Murkowski this time joining her GOP colleagues in voting against it.
