Senate dismisses Mayorkas impeachment trial

The Senate kicked off its impeachment trial for Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday as Democrats quickly dismissed the charges.

House Republicans voted to impeach Mayorkas in February for failing to enforce federal immigration law and lying to Congress when he said the border was secure. The two articles of impeachment were finally delivered to the Senate yesterday, and although Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell argued that the body has a duty to hold a full trial, senators voted along party lines just a few hours after the start of the trial to dismiss Mayorkas’s alleged “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law.” They dismissed the second charge — “breach of public trust” — in short order, as well. Republicans attempted to stall the full dismissal with several points of order asking to delay the trial, each of which failed.

This seemed the inevitable outcome of the attempt to remove Mayorkas. House Republicans were only able to eke out a one-vote majority to impeach him in the first place, as three Republicans joined the Democrats in voting against the measure — and the Senate is decidedly less conservative. A key contention among both parties is whether Mayorkas’s failures to secure the border rise to the an impeachable offense and whether it is appropriate to remove an appointed cabinet official, which is quite rare. At best, Republicans can argue that they may have brought more attention to the border crisis, which is a top issue for voters heading into this fall’s elections.

Across the way, House Republicans are facing another revolt as Speaker Mike Johnson unveils legislation to hand out billions in foreign aid. Johnson previously said he wouldn’t take up a foreign aid package without Congress passing border security measures, but he seemingly believes he’s figured out a cute way to get around his promise. The bill would grant $26 billion to Israel, $8 billion to Taiwan and $60.8 billion to Ukraine, some of which would be conditioned as a loan. However, the bill provides two points at which the president can forgive half of the loan, and Senator Mitt Romney admitted that no one expects Ukraine to pay back the money. Johnson is meantime advancing a border security bill that includes components of HR-2, but seemingly does not make passage of the foreign aid bill contingent on its success. And Johnson is quickly learning that actions have consequences: Representative Thomas Massie is linking up with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene to consider ousting Johnson from leadership, and other caucus members have publicly expressed their displeasure at Johnson’s dealmaking with Democrats and moderate Republicans at the expense of conservatives. 

-Amber Duke

On our radar

BOEING BUBBLE POPPED A Boeing engineer and whistleblower testified to senators Wednesday that superiors told him to “shut up” when he raised safety concerns about aircraft. Another Boeing whistleblower who was testifying to safety concerns in a lawsuit against the company died of an apparent suicide last month.

NEWS PERSON RESIGNS The NPR editor who said in an op-ed last week that the media outlet had descended into left-wing bias resigned Wednesday. Uri Berliner was previously suspended for five days for failing to get in-house permission to write his critical piece about the taxpayer-funded organization. 

TRUMP DENIED New York judge Juan Merchan said that the former president is not allowed to take a day off from his “hush-money” trial to attend arguments in his case on presidential immunity that is appearing in front of the Supreme Court. The judge delayed a decision as to whether Trump will be allowed to attend his son Barron’s high-school graduation.  

HHS secretary punts on abortion restrictions

The Biden administration’s secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra — who describes himself as a Catholic — refused to answer when asked yesterday by Louisiana’s senator John Kennedy if he supports “making it illegal to abort a baby, if the mother is healthy, and the baby is healthy, on the day before that baby is scheduled to be born?”

The Daily Signal’s Mary Margaret Olohan reported Becerra’s response was:

I certainly would support the reestablishment of Roe v. Wade. Senator, if you talk to any woman, she’ll tell you that she uses common sense in making her decisions.

Kennedy continued to grill Becerra (read their full exchange here). And later, when Senator Katie Britt of Alabama asked Becerra if he supported a woman’s ability “to take the life of her child the day before her child was due, or the day after her child was due,” Becerra accused her of peddling “fiction,”  despite seven states having laws on the books making abortion legal “with no limits.”

These exchanges serve as a reminder that even “progressive” people struggle with abortion and the language associated with it. CNN, for instance, back in 2019, in an effort to help readers understand what “late-term abortion” means, asked two OBGYNs what the phrase meant to them. One claimed the term “is medically inaccurate and has no clinical meaning. In science and medicine, it’s essential to use language precisely. In pregnancy, to be ‘late term’ means to be past forty-one weeks gestation, or past a patient’s due date. Abortions do not occur in this time period, so the phrase is contradictory.”

Another asserted, “‘Late term’ is an invention of anti-abortion extremists to confuse, mislead and increase stigma. The appropriate language is ‘abortions later in pregnancy.’”

It doesn’t matter how you phrase it, though. Becerra and his ilk won’t clarify what they believe, because for some saying it out loud, as Bill Maher did this week, would be to admit abortion is murder — and they’re OK with that.

–Teresa Mull

Philly problems

Thanksgiving is going to be a bit awkward at the Boyle family table in Philadelphia this year, with Congressman Brendan Boyle’s brother, state Representative Kevin Boyle, facing arrest following his latest run-in with the law. 

This week, Philadelphia police issued a warrant Kevin Boyle for allegedly violating a protection from abuse order.

According to Brendan, his brother suffers from mental illness that has flared up repeatedly in recent years. In February, Kevin lost his committee assignments following a viral, expletive-laden outburst in a bar, where he threatened to “close your fucking bar. This bar is done! Do you know who the fuck I am? This bar is done tomorrow!” Boyle also had his security access to the state Capitol restricted; he requires a staffer to walk him around. 

Kevin Boyle’s fellow Democrats in the legislature have already started weaning him off their campaign cash. He faces a strong challenge from Sean Dougherty, whose uncle, John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, has had his own legal troubles. Johnny Doc Dougherty was found guilty of seventy counts of embezzlement after he pillaged the electricians’ union he once helmed.

Kevin’s close friend and the House majority leader, Matt Bradford, said he will back his intra-party opponent. “I love Kevin Boyle, and I want him to get the help he needs,” Bradford said. 

–Matthew Foldi