Staff Reports
The whole Republican conference is putting pressure on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to make sure Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is put through a full impeachment trial. Leading GOP senators, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), are letting Schumer know exactly what they intend to do when the House gets ready to forward the articles of impeachment to the Senate the next week.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) are among the Republicans who have expressed doubts about the evidence against Mayorkas about President Joe Biden's border policies, even if they did not sign the petition calling for a full trial. Unknown factors prevented other Republicans including Rand Paul (R-KY), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) from signing.
Forty-three Senate Republicans demand Schumer hold full Mayorkas impeachment trial#Republicans #Democrats #Mayorkas pic.twitter.com/PrPJI4sJgx
— B.C. Begley (@BC_News1) April 12, 2024
Republicans' inadequacies in border policy from earlier this year are being emphasized by Democrats, who want to quickly drop the charges against Mayorkas. Schumer hasn't yet made his preparations for the impeachment trial public, though. In order to give senators more time, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) decided to postpone delivering the articles of impeachment until the following week.
The Republican senators pointed out in their letter to Schumer that, historically, since 1797, there have been 21 cases of impeachment, and all but one of them have gone to trial. If Schumer doesn't comply, they are willing to obstruct Senate legislation and are adamant about seeing the trial through to completion.
As GOP senators make their positions known, there is a noticeable tension in the Senate. The heat on Schumer is growing as things get worse in the Capitol.
