Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) accused Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) of leaving the Senate when the articles of impeachment were presented against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“Jon Tester was standing on the floor before the managers arrived, but as soon as the managers arrived, Tester turned and ran, presumably into the cloakroom,” Cruz said Tuesday of his Democratic colleague who is up for reelection in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country.
“If you look at the Democrat side, virtually every Democrat was there, but Jon Tester was nowhere to be found because apparently it was too frightening to hear the managers simply read the facts,” Cruz told reporters at a press conference.
Tester was seen leaving the Senate chamber for part of the presentation of the articles on the floor of the U.S. Senate. However, he was seen in the chamber reading a hard copy of the impeachment articles on his desk on Tuesday and at some point was even waving them around. Tester’s office disputed Cruz’s characterization.
“Sen. Tester was present in the chamber and is reviewing the articles of impeachment against Secretary Mayorkas,” said Eli Cousins, a spokesman for the Montana Democrat, said in response to an inquiry from the Washington Examiner.
“As soon as the House managers were done and you all walked off the floor, Tester came from the cloakroom and was back on the Senate floor,” Cruz said, motioning to the House impeachment managers standing behind him. “When sitting senators have to go into witness protection, it tells you they cannot defend their inhumane policies,” Cruz added.
Cruz and many other Senate Republicans are bracing for Democratic leadership to quickly end the trial through a motion to table or dismissal, which only requires a simple majority to pass, allowing Democrats to avoid a drawn-out trial that would put the crisis at the southern border back into the spotlight. However, a number of vulnerable Senate Democrats have publicly committed to quickly ending the process. Tester has waffled on the measure, insisting he needs to review the articles before he makes a decision, although he previously had said he would support a motion to table.
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Several centrist Republicans such as Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Mitt Romney (R-UT) have questioned whether the House has found enough evidence that Mayorkas has committed high crimes and misdemeanors.
Senate conservatives said they believe any vote to dismiss the charges would be followed by vows to retaliate by raising procedural hurdles to halt all other Senate business. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said he will attempt to raise 15 points of order on Wednesday if the Senate fails to hold a trial or send the impeachment to a special committee that would then review it.
