House Republicans are likely to delay transmitting articles of impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate, Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman reported Tuesday.
That's because Senate Republicans are pleading with House colleagues for more time in order to avoid a procedural hurdle that could end the whole exercise before it begins, according to reporter Andrew Desiderio.
"Senate Republicans spoke up at lunch today urging House GOP to delay sending the Mayorkas impeachment articles until next week, or even later," Desiderio wrote in a lengthy thread on X. "In response, GOP Whip Thune agreed with them that the House should wait, but some [Republicans] want leadership to make the case directly to Johnson."
According to Desiderio, the GOP senators who want a full trial are concerned about timing.
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"A dismissal vote would happen on Thursday afternoon/evening because of the Japanese PM’s speech in the morning," he noted, "creating attendance issues that could foil [a Republican] attempt to defeat a dismissal motion."
After weeks of vote-wrangling and failed attempts amid their threadbare majority, House Republicans impeached Mayorkas in February.
The exact misconduct alleged remains unclear, but House Republicans have argued broadly that Mayorkas violated his oath of office over his handling of southern border immigration policies.
The impeachment is almost certain to fail in the Senate as Democrats are firmly united in support of the secretary; however, the initial vote on a dismissal motion could lead to the Senate skipping a trial altogether if Republicans failed to muster the votes to block it.
Even some Senate Republicans, including Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), have criticized the impeachment as a waste of the chamber's time and attention.
A recent report further revealed that the Republican staffers who drafted the articles of impeachment have ties to a Christian nationalist organization.