Senate GOP tries to stop Democrats from axing Mayorkas impeachment trial

Driving the news: Several Republican senators have been personally lobbying Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to delay the transfer of impeachment articles until Monday, to buy them more time to try to block an effort to dismiss, according to three sources familiar.

• "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," Taylor Haulsee, a spokesperson for Speaker Johnson, told Axios in a statement.
• "There is no reason whatsoever for the Senate to abdicate its responsibility to hold an impeachment trial," Haulsee said.
• Republicans have already used Senate rules to block committees from meeting Tuesday afternoon out of protest, a senior Senate GOP aide told Axios.

Between the lines: While some Republicans are furious at Democrats for not taking the time to consider the articles being sent from the House, others may join Democrats in voting to dismiss them.

• Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told Axios on Tuesday that he doesn't "think the constitutional standard of high crime and misdemeanor has been met" in the Mayorkas impeachment articles.
• But "when I would express that is uncertain," he added, saying he wants to see what the process ends up being.

The other side: Republicans see Sen. Jon Tester's (D-Mont.) recent hesitancy to fully commit to voting to dismiss the articles of impeachment as signs of Democrats feeling the pressure.