White House celebrates Senate’s rejection of Mayorkas impeachment

The White House praised the Senate on Wednesday, for “rightly” voting down both articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Mayorkas was impeached by the Republican-led House of Representatives in February, over his handling of the border crisis on the United States’ southern border. House members claimed he committed a "breach of trust" and displayed a "willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law" as the country faces an unprecedented surge in border crossings.

A spokesperson for the White House said that the Senate made the right decision to kill both articles of impeachment without a trial or debate, and encouraged Republican lawmakers to help Mayorkas address the border crisis.

“Once and for all, the Senate has rightly voted down this baseless impeachment that even conservative legal scholars said was unconstitutional,” Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations, said in a statement reported by the Hill. “President [Joe] Biden and Secretary Mayorkas will continue doing their jobs to keep America safe and pursue actual solutions at the border, and Congressional Republicans should join them, instead of wasting time on baseless political stunts while killing real bipartisan border security reforms.” 

The White House has previously referred to the impeachment process as “baseless” and “unconstitutional,” arguing that Mayorkas has not committed any crime to impeach him on. In order for civil officers, including the president and vice president, to be removed from office, they need to be impeached for and convicted of “bribery, treason, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” per section four of the U.S. Constitution.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also railed against the impeachment articles in a statement on Wednesday, claiming a trial would be “the least legitimate, least substantive and most politicized impeachment trial ever in the history of the United States.”

The move marks the first time the Senate has ever rejected articles of impeachment without holding a trial or referring the articles to a special committee for review.