When it comes to precedents, Democrats sure do love to break them to protect their own.
After impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas were delivered to the Senate this week, both impeachment articles were quashed by the Democrat-controlled upper chamber before a trial was even held.
“Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., offered a deal to the Senate GOP on the floor where senators would have time for debate and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, would be able to force votes on a full trial as well as establishing an impeachment committee,” reports Just the News. “Votes on dismissing the impeachment articles would follow. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said on the floor that he objected to voting to dismiss the charges without a full trial.”
After his objection, Schumer motioned for a vote on the constitutionality of impeachment article one against Mayorkas. Schumer argued that it does not rise to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Cruz requested a vote that the Senate move to a closed session to debate the constitutionality of impeachment article one. Schumer shot back, saying he gave the GOP a chance to debate the articles in public but Schmitt objected. The motion raised by Cruz failed to pass.
Schumer’s motion to deem article one unconstitutional passed 51-48. He then made a motion to deem article two unconstitutional, which passed 51-49.
The two impeachment articles against Mayorkas allege a “breach of trust” related to Mayorkas describing the southern U.S. border as secure as well as a “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law.”
Mayorkas has repeatedly insisted that the southern border is secure even though migrant encounters have persistently broken records — quickly reaching crisis levels after Biden took office.
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The Biden administration has released millions into American cities, creating huge problems with a lack of resources and sharp increases in crime. To date, there have been an estimated 8 million migrant encounters at the border under the Biden administration, with an estimated 3.5 million migrants released into the U.S.
Senate Republicans argued that the chamber should not set a precedent that lying to Congress [is] not an impeachable offense.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, noted that never before [in] the history of the U.S. have impeachment articles been dismissed before impeachment managers have a chance to present their case.
Some senators such as John Thune, R-S.D., tried to make several arguments on the floor as to why the Senate should hold a trial, including that the “worst border crisis” in U.S. history has unfolded since 2021. The presiding office, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the Senate was not in a debatable position and called for order.
Schumer said earlier on Wednesday that he would allow a floor debate on the impeachment articles but called on senators to dismiss the charges.
Joe Biden has been desperately trying to push the narrative that Trump and Republicans are to blame for the crisis, to no avail, so it was inevitable that Democrats would prevent a trial from happening, even if it was destined to fall short of a conviction. Democrats clearly wanted to avoid a trial because it would call attention to the border crisis and its root causes.
However, not holding a trial has now put vulnerable Democratic senators on record opposing accountability for the border crisis. Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), and Bob Casey (D-Penn.) all have competitive races this year, and polls have shown that immigration is a big issue affecting how people intend to vote.