Conservatives in the Senate are urging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to oppose Democrats’ plans to ignore the upper chamber’s constitutional duty to host an impeachment trial for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
More than a dozen conservative senators penned a letter to McConnell on Tuesday telling him to take up the House’s mantle of impeaching Mayorkas for his aiding and abetting the invasion at the U.S. southern border.
“It is imperative that the Senate Republican conference prepare to fully engage our Constitutional duty and hold a trial,” the Republicans wrote.
McConnell is no stranger to failing his conference and Republican voters by working with Democrats.
Most recently, the minority leader let GOP Sen. James Lankford take the fall for an unnecessary bill that would keep America’s borders open to a record-breaking influx of illegals. The “dead on arrival” legislation was actually the brainchild of McConnell, who used secret negotiations with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to secure taxpayer money for the Ukraine border while leaving our own vulnerable.
Republicans like Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, who initiated the letter, are well aware of McConnell’s track record, which is why they are publicly discouraging him from allying with Democrats, who called House Republicans’ dragged out charges against Mayorkas a “sham” and an “embarrassment.”
The Senate has a “constitutional duty” to “try all impeachments,” but Schumer allegedly plans to “dispense with the articles of impeachment by simply tabling both individually.” Lee and Cruz, who criticized Schumer’s plan to the Senate parliamentarian last week, say that move is unprecedented and possibly a violation of upper chamber rules.
“This is an action rarely contemplated and never taken by the U.S. Senate in the history of our Republic,” the Republicans wrote. “It remains to be seen if the Senate rules will even allow us to brush aside our duty in this manner, but one thing is sure, if a similar strategy was contemplated by Senate Republicans when we were in the majority with a Republican occupying the White House, the opposition would be fierce and the volume from Democrats would be deafening.”
McConnell claimed to CNN last week that he had yet to make up his mind on holding a trial and even dismissing Mayorkas’ charges.
“I haven’t really thought about it,” he replied but hinted that he did not favor an impeachment trial. “I don’t think we’ll have two endless trials like we’ve had recently.”
The GOPers’ letter, however, demands McConnell pursue action against Mayorkas for his “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law, as well as the breach of public trust” instead of letting it fizzle out.
“We call on you to join us in our efforts to jettison this approach by Democrats to shirk their Constitutional duty, ensure that the Senate conducts a proper trial, and that every Senator, Republican and Democrat, adjudicates this matter when the Senate returns,” the Republicans concluded.
