Former Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren says he is entering the race for his old position, and Republicans in the House send impeachment articles against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate.

Andrew Warren, suspended by governor, to run for Hillsborough state attorney

Andrew Warren, Hillsborough County State Attorney before he was removed from the office in 2022 by Gov. Ron DeSantis, said Tuesday he will seek to regain the position.

In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Warren said, "I'm running for re-election! I'll never stop fighting for our safety, our freedom, and our democracy."

In A video attached to the post, Warren said DeSantis “illegally forced me from office” and that he decided to seek a third term even as a judge in Tallahassee considers whether to order his reinstatement later this year. Qualifying for the election ends next week.

He will run against former Hillsborough County Judge Susan Lopez, who replaced him after his suspension by the governor.

DeSantis said he suspended Warren over the prosecutor’s signing of statements that said he would not pursue criminal charges against seekers or providers of abortion or gender transition treatments, as well as his policies about not charging people with certain minor crimes.

Warren accused DeSantis of suspending him for political reasons and actions protected by the First Amendment, and took him to court, saying the governor did not have a legal right to take him out of elected office.

Warren filed a lawsuit that was dismissed in early 2023, but earlier this year, a federal appellate court vacated that ruling.

The governor’s office said after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court ruling in favor of Warren that it sets a “dangerous precedent” that could permit politically motivated prosecutors to ignore laws they oppose.

Professor Louis Verelli, who teaches constitutional law at Stetson University, says the governor could have a harder time suspending Warren if he’s re-elected.

“It would be different from the first time, because there is a pretty clear ruling from a federal court saying the federal constitution doesn’t support what Gov. DeSantis did in terms of First Amendment rights,” Verelli said. “And there is a very good argument for the Florida constitution prohibiting Gov. DeSantis from making the decision he did on the basis that he did.”

House Republicans send Mayorkas impeachment articles to the Senate

House impeachment managers walked two articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas across the Capitol to the Senate on Tuesday, forcing senators to convene a trial on the allegations that he has “willfully and systematically” refused to enforce immigration laws.

While the Senate is obligated to hold a trial under the rules of impeachment once the charges are walked across the Capitol, the proceedings may not last long. Democrats are expected to try to dismiss or table the charges later this week before the full arguments get underway.

Republicans have argued there should be a full trial. As Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., signed the articles Monday in preparation for sending them across the Capitol, he said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., should convene a trial to "hold those who engineered this crisis to full account."

Majority Democrats have said the GOP case against Mayorkas doesn't rise to the "high crimes and misdemeanors" laid out as a bar for impeachment in the Constitution, and Schumer probably has enough votes to end the trial immediately if he decides to do so. The proceedings will not begin until Wednesday.

Schumer has said he wants to "address this issue as expeditiously as possible."

"Impeachment should never be used to settle a policy disagreement," Schumer said. "That would set a horrible precedent for the Congress."

Senators will be sworn in Wednesday as jurors, turning the chamber into the court of impeachment. The Senate will then issue a summons to Mayorkas to inform him of the charges and ask for a written answer. He will not have to appear in the Senate.

What happens after that is unclear. Impeachment rules generally allow the Senate to decide how to proceed.

The House narrowly voted in February to impeach Mayorkas for his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. House Republicans charged in two articles of impeachment that Mayorkas has not only refused to enforce existing law but also breached the public trust by lying to Congress and saying the border was secure. It was the first time in nearly 150 years a Cabinet secretary was impeached.

Since then, Johnson has delayed sending the articles to the Senate for weeks while both chambers finished work on government funding legislation and took a two-week recess. Johnson had said he would send them to the Senate last week, but he punted again after Senate Republicans said they wanted more time to prepare.

First 6 jurors are chosen for Trump’s hush money criminal trial; 12 more still needed

The first six jurors for Donald Trump’s hush money trial were chosen Tuesday after lawyers grilled members of the jury pool about their social media posts, political views and personal lives to decide whether they can sit in fair judgment of the former president.

The panelists who were sworn in are an IT worker, an English teacher, an oncology nurse, a sales professional, a software engineer and a corporate lawyer.

Twelve more people still need to be picked before opening statements begin as early as next week in the Manhattan case accusing the Republican of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal during his 2016 campaign.

The trial, which began Monday, puts Trump’s legal problems at the center of his closely contested race against President Joe Biden. It’s the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial, and it may be the only one to reach a verdict before voters decide in November whether to elect the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

On the second day of jury selection, New Yorkers were quizzed for hours about their views on Trump and other issues, and eight were excused after saying they could not be impartial or because they had other commitments. Trump’s lawyers challenged a handful of people over social media posts, and one person was dismissed over a 2017 post about Trump that said “Lock him up!”

Several would-be jurors told the judge they believed they could decide the case fairly, no matter their feelings about Trump or his policies as president.

Trump looked on in the courtroom as his lawyers urged the judge to remove one potential juror for a social media post she made after his 2020 election loss. The judge admonished Trump at one point after he spoke loudly and gestured while the judge questioned the woman about her post.

“I don’t know what he was uttering, but it was audible and he was gesturing. And he was speaking in the direction of the juror,” Judge Juan Merchan said. “I won’t tolerate that. I will not tolerate any jurors being intimidated in this courtroom.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass took Trump’s notoriety head-on, telling would-be jurors that attorneys were not looking for people who had been “living under a rock for the past eight years.” They just needed to keep an open mind.

“This case has nothing to do with your personal politics … it’s not a referendum on the Trump presidency or a popularity contest or who you’re going to vote for in November. We don’t care. This case is about whether this man broke the law,” he said.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged effort to keep salacious — and, he says, bogus — stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign.

Before entering the courtroom, Trump stopped briefly to address a TV camera in the hallway, repeating his claim that the judge is biased against him and the case is politically motivated.

“This is a trial that should have never been brought,” Trump said. After he went inside, reporters saw him wink at one of the court officers and mouth, “How are you?” while he walked down the aisle. Trump then took his seat at the defense table with his attorneys.

With the trial expected to last for six weeks or more, multiple jury pool members brought up plans they have for Memorial Day and beyond. One parent was excused Monday because of a child’s wedding in late June. Another person was dismissed Tuesday because of a trip they have planned.

One man was excused after saying he feared his ability to be impartial could be compromised by “unconscious bias” from growing up in Texas and working in finance with people who “intellectually tend to slant Republican.”

“I’m not sure that I can say beyond a reasonable doubt that I can be fair,” another potential juror told the judge. “I can try. But I’m not 100% sure I can be fair.” She was also dismissed.

One woman who said she disagrees with Trump’s policies — and sometimes finds herself frustrated by him — pledged to be fair and impartial, telling defense lawyer Todd Blanche that she would give her “level-headed best” if she were picked for the jury.

“I didn’t sleep last night thinking about could I do that,” she said.

After another juror said she would be unable to serve impartially, Trump twisted in his chair, looking in the direction of the box. Through the first few minutes of the day, he appeared generally attentive, jotting down notes and raising sheets of paper to his face as jurors rattled off answers to a lengthy questionnaire.

Trump broke into a grin, nodding his head in an exaggerated manner, when another person said he had read two of the former president’s books, “The Art of the Deal” and “How to Get Rich.” The man, who said some of his wife’s family members are lobbyists for the Republican Party, said he didn’t think there was anything that would prevent him from looking at the case fairly.

“I feel that no one’s above the law,” he said.

The charges center on $130,000 in payments that Trump’s company made to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. He paid that sum on Trump’s behalf to keep porn actor Stormy Daniels from going public with her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. Trump has denied the encounter ever happened.

Prosecutors say the payments to Cohen were falsely logged as legal fees. The prosecution has described the money as being part of a scheme to bury damaging stories Trump feared could help his opponent in the 2016 race, particularly as Trump’s reputation was suffering at the time from comments he made about women.

If convicted of falsifying business records, Trump faces up to four years in prison, though there’s no guarantee he will get time behind bars.