WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will delay sending the Senate its impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas until next week, a spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Tuesday.
“To ensure the Senate has adequate time to perform its constitutional duty, the House will transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate next week,” instead of the previous plan to send them on Wednesday, said spokesman Taylor Haulsee.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, had planned to have all 100 senators sworn in on Thursday as jurors in any Mayorkas impeachment trial.
While Schumer has not detailed the schedule beyond the swearing-in, several sources, including some senators, have said he was seeking a quick conclusion to the process — possibly within a day or two through a dismissal of the charges or a similar procedural maneuver.
Haulsee said the delay will avoid placing the start of the impeachment process in the Senate closer to the weekend when senators normally are not in Washington and would either have to interrupt the proceeding or have an incentive to dispatch it by late Thursday.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan and David Morgan; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
