Republicans delay DHS Secretary Mayorkas' impeachment trial until next week

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WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson will delay until next week sending articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate, his spokesman said, after previously saying they would be transmitted on Wednesday. "To ensure the Senate has adequate time to perform its constitutional duty, the House will transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week," said Taylor Haulsee, a spokesman for Johnson. Johnson's decision came after Senate Republicans personally urged the speaker to postpone sending the articles to give senators more time to debate the matter at the beginning of the week rather than late this week when lawmakers are preparing to fly back to their home states. "It makes no sense to have them go through all that time and effort to highlight the abuse of this administration, only to have [the articles] come over here and get snuffed out," said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who is close to the speaker and one of the senators who personally urged him to hold off. Senate Democrats, who control the chamber, were expected to quickly vote this week to dismiss or table the two Mayorkas impeachment articles and move on to other business. But Republicans have spent this week demanding the Senate hold a full Senate trial focused on Mayorkas' handling of border security. "There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial," Haulsee said. The days-long delay will give the GOP a few extra days to debate the articles and hammer the other party's dismissal of them. "I'm very grateful to Speaker Johnson for his bold willingness to delay this," said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, who has led GOP calls for a full Senate trial. "We don't want this to come over on the eve of the moment when members might be operating under the influence of jet fuel intoxication. That was precisely the plan and it's much better for us to do this at the beginning of a legislative week, rather than toward the end."