On Tuesday, as Townhall covered, House Republicans decided to delay delivery of the impeachment articles against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at the request of Senate Republicans. Despite how the Senate Democrats' plan has been slammed as "unprecedented," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) still looks to avoid having the chamber go through with its constitutional duty.
Per POLITICO's Burgess Everett, Senate Democrats are still looking to deal with the impeachment effort "as expeditiously as possible."
No change in Dem strategy despite delay in House with delivering impeachment articles. Schumer says Senate will deal with Mayorkas impeachment "as expeditiously as possible"
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) April 10, 2024
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has been among those Republicans most vocal about the need for holding the trial, addressed the issue during Wednesday's episode of his podcast, "The Verdict."
"Schumer wants it incredibly quick, incredibly silent. He doesn't want Senate Democrats on record, he doesn't want any of the facts revealed to the American people," Cruz shared with his co-host Ben Ferguson.
He also laid out what was supposed to happen, and "the problem" with that, as senators would be looking to head home, as well as how Schumer could have used that to his advantage. "Schumer wanted to do all of this Thursday afternoon because he knew senators would be anxious to leave to get back to their states. They have events scheduled in their state. They're traveling around their state, and he knew they would want to get out of here," Cruz offered.
Cruz was actually one of the senators who met on Tuesday morning to ask for a delay, he then explained. He as well as Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and John Kennedy (R-LA) met with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on the matter.
As the senator described it, he was "meeting with leadership about how we can fight what Schumer is doing here, and a point that I raised in that meeting [Tuesday] morning, I said 'it is really damn stupid for us to do this Thursday afternoon, it facilitates Schumer's goal of making this quick.'" He offered it "would make a lot more sense" for the House to transmit the articles of impeachment on Monday, which is now the new plan.
"If they transmit Monday, the Senate takes it up Tuesday. Tuesday is a much better time to take it up because it means... we have the entire week to put this issue before the American people and we're not doing it at a time when senators--both Democrats and Republicans--are eager to get out of town," Cruz explained.
Cruz called it "a bit of good news" and "a good step" that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was "happy to" delay delivering the impeachment articles.
However, there's still the issue of what Schumer and Senate Democrats do, with Cruz emphasizing how it would be "so consequential" if the motion were tabled. "If Schumer succeeds, if every Democrat votes for it--and right now, Schumer seems supremely confident that every Democrat will vote for it--what that means number one is that every Democrat is now on record supporting Joe Biden's open borders, that they're perfectly fine with what Alejandro Mayorkas has done. But number two understand that they will have participated in changing the U.S. Senate," he explained.
When it comes to Schumer being "supremely confident," he has reason to be. Even retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is against holding a trial.
Manchin on Senate floor says "politics is being played" on the Mayorkas impeachment trial
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) April 10, 2024
"If you're unhappy go to the polls," Manchin says. He said border policy has "been a disaster" but pans going through a trial
"It is something that I can't wait to vote against"
Cruz also likened the situation to how then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) nuked the filibuster for judicial and cabinet appointments in 2013. As Cruz explained it, "Harry Reid broke the Senate rules in order to change the Senate rules." He used the nuclear option, though, and overturned the ruling of the chair requiring 60 votes for nominations, as he was able to get 51 votes to do so. "Once you do that, you change the precedence," Cruz said, "and that new rule is binding."
He recalled how he told Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), "You are going to regret this decision, all of the Democrats are going to regret this decision, and the consequence of this decision is we're going to see more justices like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on the court." Cruz referred to it as "an irony" in how "the direct result of" Reid's move gave us the justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade with 2022's Dobbs v. Jackson.
Cruz also warned that "what Chuck Schumer is planning to do next week, is every bit as big a deal as nuking the filibuster, and in many ways, it's more significant."
As he explained to Ferguson when it comes to "the cause and effect," it's "more significant" because the filibuster is Senate procedure rather than a matter addressed by the Constitution. "Impeachment is written into the Constitution," Cruz emphasized. "The obligation of the Senate to try impeachment is mandatory, it is in the Constitution. So what the Senate Democrats are planning to do next week, is nuke the impeachment clause of the Constitution, destroy the Senate's responsibility, give away the Senate's power and you want to know the consequences," he explained.
When it comes to the effect this could have, Cruz mentioned the November election and offered there's "a very good chance" that former President Donald Trump will be president once more. He also raised the possibility of a Republican-controlled Senate with a Democratic-controlled House. In that scenario, Democrats are likely to bring up impeachment against Trump yet again.
"If that happens, I'm here to predict right now, if the Democrats have the House, they will once again impeach Donald Trump, maybe for the third time, the fourth time, the fifth time, I can't tell you how many times a Democrat House will impeach Donald Trump, it may be the only thing they do for two years. If that happens, and it comes to the Senate, we have a Republican Senate. You know what we'll do? We'll table the damn thing. And let's be clear. We didn't last time," Cruz offered. The senator reminded that they didn't table the measure for the first impeachment, even though they could have, "because Senate Republicans actually took our constitutional obligations seriously." Holding the trial and acquitting Trump is what Cruz described as "the proper constitutional way."
Cruz continued to warn that "what Chuck Schumer is willing to do to protect Democrats, senators from accountability for the disaster at our southern border of their policies, what he now calls 'a policy dispute,' is break the Senate and nuke the impeachment clause of the Constitution," making clear "that's a big deal, and it's a deal that will have consequences. Ten years, 50 years, 100 years from now." He made another prediction, which is that "if Schumer does this next week, you will never again see an impeachment trial when the Senate is the same party as the president. That will be taken off the table."
On any "backlash ... come November," Cruz told Ferguson that while he doesn't think "the institutional change of the Senate" is "going to be a big voting issue," he does think the overall border issue will be. "I do think the border, and the chaos, and the suffering, and the death that is coming from Joe Biden and Democrats' open border, I think that is going to be probably the single most important issue in November," adding "it is critically important we do everything we can to number one, increase the price for Schumer breaking the Senate, destroying the institutions of democracy."
Polls have indeed shown immigration to be a top issue if not the top issue for voters, with Trump also having an edge over Biden--and by double digits when it comes to who voters trust more on it. Of the issues RealClearPolling shows Biden's approval ratings for, immigration has been his worst one for some time, as he has just a 31.8 percent approval rating.
Cruz addressed another "irony" with Democrats here, which is how they "love to beat their chests and talk about how they want to save democracy," adding, "And yet, this is an assault on democracy. This is an assault on the Constitution and the institution that is the Senate, just like the Democrats assault on the filibuster back in 2013," as he also reminded "the Democrats have systematically been tearing down our institutions."
Even if the Democrats do look to table the motion, Cruz won't go quietly. He "intend[s] to raise probably multiple points of order challenging what the Democrats are doing." He wants to go with an impeachment committee, for instance.
Other senators will raise key points in their motions. "I expect and I think there are a number of Republicans who are going to raise points of orders try to make motions, to highlight the enormous harms caused by the open borders. And what I'm anticipating is every Democrat voting party line over and over and over again against every motion and every point of order we raise," Cruz explained.
The reason why would be what Schumer has said before. "It's what Chuck Schumer told us because this is a policy dispute and the policy of the Democrats is they are for open borders, no matter how many people are killed, no matter how many children are violated, no matter how many women are sexually assaulted ... no matter how many terrorists come into this country, and how much death and destruction results. And I think next week we're going to see that vividly before the American people."
Schumer's Plan to Nuke the Constitution to Avoid Mayorkas Impeachment & Hide Democrats’ Open Borders Catastrophe. @benfergusonshow and I expose Schumer’s unconstitutional scheme on Verdict. Available wherever you get your podcasts. https://t.co/zkx2vN6T3O
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 10, 2024
The presidential election isn't the only one affected. The 2024 Senate map is looking particularly favorable to Republicans, including when it comes to seats they're looking to pick up. And yet vulnerable Democratic incumbents, like Ohio's Sherrod Brown, can't be bothered to come out in favor of holding Mayorkas accountable.
On Tuesday, Bernie Moreno, the Republican nominee to challenge Brown in November, released a statement calling him out.
"Once again, Sherrod Brown is taking his marching orders from Chuck Schumer and the Washington swamp, not Ohioans," said Moreno. "Mayorkas has overseen the worst border invasion in history, allowing millions of illegal immigrants to pour into our communities, and deserves to be held accountable. Democrats like Sherrod Brown care more for illegal immigrants than our veterans, seniors, and Americans struggling with record-high inflation. It is shameful that he will not carry out his constitutional duty by holding a fair trial."
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