The top two ranking Republicans in the Senate, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., called on Democrats to hold a full impeachment trial of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has yet to state how he plans to handle the charges, but Republicans suspect he’s planning to short-shrift the trial if not move for all-out dismissal, which would only take a simple majority to carry out. Democrats own the Senate, 51-49.
House Republicans impeached Mayorkas 214-213 on Feb. 13 for “willfully and systematically” refusing to enforce immigration laws at the southern border. House managers are expected to bring the articles of impeachment before the Senate next week.
“I believe the Senate needs to hold a trial,” Thune announced at the weekly Senate GOP leadership press conference, multiple outlets reported. “I’m going to make the argument — and I’m sure the Democrats will try to dismiss it — that we ought to be having a trial, conducting a trial of the United States Senate to determine whether these are impeachable offenses.”
“I think that would be the best way forward,” McConnell added later in support of a trial.
Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and 11 other Republicans penned a letter to McConnell last week pushing for their insistence of a full trial.
Mayorkas became the first Cabinet member ever impeached, but even some Senate Republicans see a trial as a waste of time.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., called it "obviously dead on arrival" and "the worst, dumbest exercise and use of time.” GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., also said recently a trial is a waste of time.
“I don’t think impeachment was something intended to be brought up every three months or every two months,” Capito said, according to The Hill.
The Democrat leader agrees.
“Look, as I’ve said, the impeachment of Mayorkas is absurd,” Schumer said Tuesday, according to The Hill. “There’s not one drop of evidence that leads to any kind of charge of impeachment and we’re going to handle it in the best way possible.”
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.