Evening Report — House will send Mayorkas impeachment charges to Senate

©  Greg Nash / The Hill

Nearly two months after the Republican-controlled House narrowly voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the charges will soon be heading to the Senate.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Republican impeachment managers notified Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in a letter Thursday that they will send two impeachment articles over on April 10.

“We urge you to schedule a trial of the matter expeditiously,” Johnson wrote in a letter also signed by House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

Lawmakers are currently on a two-week Easter recess.

House Republicans, who voted to impeach Mayorkas on two charges in a 214-213 vote on Feb. 13, have accused Mayorkas of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and his breach of the public trust” over issues related to his handling of the migrant influx on the Southern border.

Schumer has not said how he will handle the impeachment articles, but he has criticized the allegations as a “sham” and unsubstantiated by evidence.

The Senate must take up the matter, at least formally. From there, it’s up to Schumer whether to hold a full trial on the Senate floor, take up a vote to dismiss the charges immediately or refer the matter to a special committee.

The charges would require support from two-thirds of the Senate to convict Mayorkas and remove him from office.

The Department of Homeland Security has called the effort a “baseless, unconstitutional impeachment.” (The Hill)

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Liz Crisp, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

Former President Trump‘s lawyers argued at a hearing Thursday that charges he faces in Georgia should be dropped because his false claims about the 2020 election are covered by the First Amendment.

Trump attorney Steve Sadow argued that statements linked to campaigns and elections have always been found to be at the “zenith of protected speech.”

“Take out the protected speech, and you don’t have an underlying basis for which to charge him,” Sadow said. “And since that violates the Constitution as applied to the charges here, and his speech here and his position here, this is ripe for a constitutional challenge.”

Trump contested the November 2020 election he lost to then-candidate Joe Biden through a wide swath of legal challenges, as well as a number of speeches starting on election night, as he refused to concede President Biden’s victory.

Trump has repeatedly falsely ascertained the election was “stolen” and “rigged,” though no evidence of mass fraud has ever been found. He urged his supporters to stop the certification of Biden’s election, which led to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Trump and several allies are accused of attempting to subvert Georgia’s election results. Trump has pleaded not guilty. (The Hill)

RELATED: Trump legal cases tracker: What’s next

Maryland lawmakers are expecting the federal government to foot the bill for most of the costs to rebuild Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge following this week’s catastrophic collapse, but it’s likely most of that money won’t have to go through Congress. 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told reporters about 90 percent of the reconstruction will be covered through the Federal Highway Administration’s emergency fund, which has about $950 million and gets $100 million annually.

At least one Republican House member already is coming out against the suggestions of using federal dollars to expedite the repairs. 

President Biden’s campaign is holding a star-studded fundraiser in New York City Thursday night that will reunite him with former Presidents Obama and Clinton and draw a roster of celebrities and top donors.

The campaign has said it’s on track to raise at least $25 million in the one-night event.

Thursday’s fundraiser at Radio City Music Hall is expected to draw more than 5,000 supporters, with thousands more watching online, the Biden campaign said.

Some of the marquee guests for the event include Stephen Colbert, Anna Wintour, Queen Latifa, Lizzo and Mindy Kaling. (The Hill)

RELATED: The “Abandon Biden” campaign, which is upset over the president’s lack of a call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, is calling for protesters to swarm his New York fundraiser.

Abortion-rights supporters are growing concerned that conservative Supreme Court justices will use a long-dormant law to effectively implement a nationwide abortion ban.

Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito repeatedly mentioned the Comstock Act during oral arguments this week in a case about the access to abortion pills.

The 151-year-old law banned the use of the U.S. Postal Service to deliver items deemed “obscene, lewd, [or] lascivious,” which included things like contraception, abortion drugs, pornographic materials and sex toys.

It hasn’t been applied in nearly a century, but anti-abortion rights activists, working with former Trump administration officials, have sensed an opening to bring it back to further restrict abortion access after the court upended  Roe v. Wade last year. (The Hill)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is again pleading for Congress to provide additional aid for Kyiv, directly warning Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) of Russian advances as GOP opposition has blocked assistance for the embattled U.S. ally.

“We recognize that there are differing views in the House of Representatives on how to proceed, but the key is to keep the issue of aid to Ukraine as a unifying factor,” Zelensky wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“The suburban voter strategy isn’t as black and white as it used to be,” writes Colin Gordon, professor at the Iowa Policy Project at the University of Iowa. 

“I am writing today not about my departure from ‘Law & Order,’ but about something far more significant — the threatened extinction of a rare and precious animal,” writes award-winning stage, film and television actor Sam Waterston. 

109 days until the Republican National Convention. 

144 days until the Democratic National Convention.  

221 days until the 2024 general election.

Tomorrow is Good Friday, and Sunday is Easter.