Several House Republicans were caught by surprise when GOP leaders announced they would postpone sending articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate, including those preparing to lead the prosecution in the trial.
The House was initially scheduled to send the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber on Wednesday evening, which would have triggered the beginning of the trial on Thursday morning. However, those plans were abruptly changed on Tuesday afternoon after several GOP senators requested House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to delay the transfer, catching some House Republicans off guard.
“Crazy thing, I’m an impeachment manager, and those are actually my articles of impeachment. And I found out from the press they were being delayed,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told the Washington Examiner, saying she was unaware of any discussions among senators to ask for the delay.
Greene expressed frustration with Johnson for agreeing to hold the articles of impeachment until next week, arguing the process has been more haphazard than previously planned.
“Our plan was to hold the articles of impeachment, build the case to the American people [and] build the pressure on [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer in the Senate as to why they need to hold a trial,” she said. “We were talking about holding them back, maybe not even sending them until this summer. Then the speaker’s office made the change to send it supposedly tomorrow. And now that’s been changed again, and I’m hearing it all from the press.”
Other impeachment managers said they were also unaware of conversations between House and Senate Republicans to delay the impeachment trial. Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN), who led the impeachment inquiry into Mayorkas, said he was not contacted by any senators about the transfer of articles.
Green said he had a conversation with Johnson on the matter, although the chairman did not disclose details of the conversation or whether the speaker had discussed the delay before agreeing to the senators’ request.
However, most of the GOP lawmakers tasked with leading the prosecution said they were supportive of the move.
“We’ve been asked by our Senate colleagues to give them the opportunity to lay a foundation to try to force Leader Schumer to hold true hearings … and let the impeachment managers be able to present our evidence to the Senate,” Rep. Michael Guest (R-TN) told the Washington Examiner. “Whether it’s a week delay or two-week delay, whatever we need to do to make sure that we actually are able to have a full impeachment hearing. I’m willing to wait as long as it takes.”
Republicans requested the delay after Democrats in the Senate floated the idea of tabling the articles, which in turn would avoid a trial altogether. Now GOP senators are looking at different ways to move forward, which they said could take a few days.
“I will say there was a strong consensus … to delay this delivery of impeachment so that we can have this discussion because it’s an important discussion to have,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said. “So, again, that was almost unanimous consensus. We asked anyone to dissent and nobody did.”
Other senators expressed concerns with beginning the trial on a Thursday, the same day senators are scheduled to travel home for the weekend recess. Some lawmakers argued doing so would incentivize lawmakers to dismiss the articles in order to return to their districts earlier without holding a full trial.
“Originally, Sen. Schumer had planned to do this on a Thursday when everybody is trying to get back to their districts. Isn’t that special?” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said on Tuesday. “We had asked the speaker to delay sending over the articles until Monday to at least give us a full week.”
“You’re aware that on a Thursday afternoon, senators rush to the airport to try to get out of here,” added Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “Schumer wants it on a Thursday afternoon, and he wants no coverage and he wants it to go away quickly. The advantage of starting the week with it is that it enables the Senate to focus on it.”
The speaker’s office said it agreed to the delay in order to give the Senate “adequate time” to hold a complete trial, although a spokesperson for Johnson did not explicitly say which day the articles would be transferred.
However, the office made clear they find “no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial,” said Johnson spokesman Taylor Haulsee in a statement.
The House impeached Mayorkas in February by a 214-213 vote on charges that he failed to enforce U.S. immigration law. The lower chamber was first expected to deliver the articles by the end of February, but Republicans later indicated they would wait until after Congress averted a partial government shutdown later that month.
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The Department of Homeland Security has maintained that House Republicans’ effort to investigate and impeach the Cabinet official is nothing more than an election-year political sham.
“Without a shred of evidence or legitimate Constitutional grounds, and despite bipartisan opposition, House Republicans have falsely smeared a dedicated public servant who has spent more than 20 years enforcing our laws and serving our country,” DHS spokeswoman Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement following the Feb. 13 vote.
