In this way, Democrats used their advantage in the Upper House to kill the two articles with which House Republicans tried to impeach against Mayorkas.
The first impeachment article accused Mayorkas of “willful and systemic refusal to comply” with immigration law, while the second held him accountable for “breach of trust” for saying the southern border was secure.
Both received a party-line vote.
What happened really comes as no surprise, Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned earlier about Mayorkas’ possible acquittal without having to go through the “full trial.”
He said the House Republicans’ case did not meet “the high standard for misdemeanors” and in his opinion this could set a dangerous background.
For Schumer, “for the sake of the integrity of the Senate and to protect impeachment in those rare cases where we really need it, senators should dismiss today’s charges,” which happened.
Lower House Republicans narrowly voted in a runoff vote to impeach Mayorkas in February over his handling of the southern border, making him the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached in nearly 150 years.
All predictions indicated there was no scenario in sight in which Mayorkas would be impeached.
Of course, the process in no way resembled the full Senate trials faced by Donald Trump in 2020 and 2021.
Unlike Trump’s, which took more than two weeks, Democrats had a chance to solve this one on the fast track as early as Wednesday afternoon.
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