WASHINGTON – The Senators will open impeachment trial Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday afternoon, but it’s expected to be nothing like the full Senate tests that Donald Trump faced in 2020 and 2021.
Senate Democrats, led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, are expected to quickly reject or debate the two articles of impeachment, which require a simple majority. Meanwhile, Republicans want to prolong the process and make it as politically painful as possible for the other side.
There is no scenario in which Mallorca will be judged. None of the Senate’s 51 Democrats have said they support impeachment, and even some moderate Republicans have said they are open to discussing the articles, arguing after some debate that Mayorkas’ conduct does not rise to the level of impeachment.
Senate President Pro Tem Patty Murray, D-Wash., will preside over the hearing. At 1:00 p.m. ET, he and 99 other senators will be sworn in as jurors. Both sides were working to agree on a process Tuesday that could include limited debate and time for votes on Republican-led proposals, a Senate source said. But unlike the Trump trials, which both lasted more than two weeks, Democrats could end the Mallorca trial as soon as Tuesday.
“What I hope is that after the swearing-in, there will be an opportunity for at least some discussion, and how long that will last and what it will lead to is yet to be determined, but I prefer not to go directly from swearing everyone in.” , boom, we’re going to the table,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who has been skeptical of impeachment pushes.
“There should at least be a process,” he said, “and if you just cross the table … you’re not only putting Republicans in a difficult spot, you’re setting a precedent that this is what we’re going to do with every future impeachment. Do we really want that?”
On Tuesday, 11 House GOP impeachment managers or prosecutors marched through the Capitol to the Senate chamber and delivered two articles by handHe accused Majorca of failing to enforce immigration laws and border security, including lying to Congress under oath by saying the US border with Mexico was “secure.”
After reading the articles on the Senate floor, the managers joined conservative senators at a press conference to demand a full judicial review and say the proposal to quickly abandon the articles would be unprecedented.
But Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, pushed the GOP for a full trial, saying it would be “acceptable” for the Senate to send the articles to a special impeachment committee.
“Look, I know a lot of us would prefer to have a full trial on the floor, but both are acceptable,” Lee told reporters, adding that the select committee “does a trial and when it’s done, it comes back to us” in the full Senate.
“Both would be acceptable,” he said.