WASHINGTON, D.C. – If you blinked, you would have missed the impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on April 17.
Or lack thereof, to be more precise.
It took Senate Democrats about three hours to dispense with the articles of impeachment brought by House Republicans and that was that, according to the inside-the-Beltway journal Roll Call.
As a lightning rod in the ongoing disputes between the Biden administration and congressional Republicans over border security, Mayorkas was the first sitting cabinet secretary to be impeached in more than a century.
The two articles of impeachment sent to the Senate, after passing the house in a heated 214-213 vote in February, accused the Homeland secretary of willful and systematic refusal to enforce existing law on the southern border and breach of public trust.
In a show of pure strength, Senate Democrats hung together and rejected those articles as not meeting the constitutional standard for impeachment.
Typically, their Republican colleagues reacted histrionically.
After the Senate’s procedural votes, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) argued that the breach of public trust article included an allegation that Mayorakas lied repeatedly in testimony to Congress, which constitutes a felony.
“If that’s not impeachable, then what is?” Lee asked rhetorically.
By not taking those articles of impeachment seriously, Lee’s allies accused Senate Democrats of violating 200 years of constitutional precedent.
But Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) called the articles sent from the House illegitimate and politicized, a thinly veiled attempt to hurt President Joe Biden’s re-election chances.
Given Biden vulnerability on the issue, border security is sure to be a hot topic in the upcoming election.
In the Texas community of Eagle Pass, border crossings by illegal aliens have slowed to a crawl thanks to the intervention of Gov. Greg Abbot and members of the Texas National Guard.
But illegals are still flooding over the border at points of entry in the states of New Mexico, Arizona and especially California, which officials of the Biden White House seem content to ignore.
“President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas will continue to keep America safe and pursue actual solution at the border,” according to a statement released by White House spokesman Ian Sams following the Senate votes.
“Congressional Republicans should join them, instead of wasting time on baseless political stunts while killing real bipartisan border security reforms.”