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EXCLUSIVE: Republican senators are gearing up to prevent all legislative business in the Senate from going forward if they don’t get a full trial into the articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Six sources told Fox News Digital that roughly a dozen GOP senators have been planning for more than a week to obstruct legislative proceedings and regular business in the Senate if, at a minimum, points of order are not agreed to in the impeachment trial of Mayorkas when the House impeachment managers deliver the articles to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
“The Senate runs on unanimous consent,” a Senate Republican aide familiar with the talks told Fox News Digital. “Any one senator can do that.”
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Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Roger Marshall, R-Kan.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; John Kennedy, R-La.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, expressed concern over Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats potentially tabling the Mayorkas impeachment trial. (Getty Images)
The aide revealed that the conversation has been ongoing since last week.
A certain set of facts, or points of order, will need to be agreed to once the impeachment articles arrive in the Senate before any trial can take place. “We go about a process to negotiate the precise procedural metes and bounds of this particular impeachment proceedings,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, described at a press conference on the Mayorkas impeachment on Tuesday.
At the same conference, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., noted that Senate president pro tempore Patty Murray, D-Wash., would preside over the proceedings. “She doesn’t have to recognize us. That’s entirely possible that Senator Schumer will tell her only to recognize him and we won’t even have a chance to make a point of order,” he said.
A second Senate Republican aide also confirmed that several senators are voicing support for slowing or even stopping legislative business if impeachment is tabled.
GOP SENATORS CONVINCE SPEAKER JOHNSON TO DELAY MAYORKAS IMPEACHMENT ARTICLE DELIVERY
Schumer’s office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
A top Senate Republican source shared that this type of holdup is always possible in the upper chamber, noting that one senator can choose to object at any time. However, they said a halt of this nature was going to be more likely if the articles were delivered this week.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached by the House over the state of the southern border. (Getty Images)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., decided to wait until next week to deliver the articles to the Senate after facing pressure from GOP senators who did not want the impeachment trial to take place ahead of a weekend when most of the body would be preparing to fly back to their states.
But, the source noted, if Schumer and the Democrats seek to table the impeachment trial next week, there would be nothing stopping Republican senators from objecting to basic procedural measures.
The entire conference’s appetite for such acts of protest isn’t clear.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hasn’t said what he or Democrats intend to do upon receiving the articles. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A source familiar with a Republican Senate lunch at the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Tuesday told Fox News Digital the discussion also took place there. It had the support of numerous senators, the source said, and no one dismissed the idea.
The Senate Republican aide gave examples of what such a Senate standstill would look like, pointing to motions to adjourn, recess and proceed to executive business, as well as objections to regular business such as wrap-ups, forcing the Senate to go through lengthy procedural actions such as reading from the journal and recapping the previous day’s business. The senators could also object to various requests to move forward on items with unanimous consent, including legislation, schedule items and adjourning.
The plan from conservative Republicans would be meant as a mechanism to bring Schumer and Democrats to the negotiating table on the Mayorkas impeachment trial.
Republicans criticized Democrats over an expected motion to table the impeachment trial. (Getty Images)
Sources pointed to a partial objection on Monday evening by Lee during the Senate’s daily wrap-up as the beginnings of blowback to Democrats dismissing impeachment trial proceedings against Mayorkas. Lee’s objection prompted multiple procedural hurdles to be cleared by the Senate prior to wrapping up. The senator’s objection was directly related to the forthcoming impeachment article delivery and the expectation that Democrats will look to quickly offramp a trial through a procedural maneuver, Lee’s office confirmed. The objection was meant to make his Democratic colleagues begin to rethink tabling the impeachment trial by demonstrating the kind of difficulties Republicans could usher in within the upper chamber.
DHS referred Fox News Digital to a previous statement following the House’s passage of the impeachment articles.
“Without a shred of evidence or legitimate Constitutional grounds, and despite bipartisan opposition, House Republicans have falsely smeared a dedicated public servant who has spent more than 20 years enforcing our laws and serving our country. Secretary Mayorkas and the Department of Homeland Security will continue working every day to keep Americans safe,” DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said at the time.
The White House Counsel’s office did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to Julia.Johnson@fox.com.
