House and Senate Republicans, and some Democrats, are increasing pressure on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send the Senate the articles impeaching President Trump that she has held onto for three weeks.
“Even as her fellow Democrats are jumping ship, the speaker is trying to double down,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Wednesday.
Recommended Stories
Senate Democrats are increasingly eager for a Senate trial to begin.
It was set to start this week but is in limbo until Pelosi sends over the articles passed by the House three weeks ago.
The delay has left uncertain the timing of key legislation, including Sen. Tim Kaine’s effort to win passage of a resolution limiting President Trump’s authority to conduct military operations overseas.
“It’s her decision to make,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said Wednesday. “But, we are ready, willing and able. I’m ready… to try this case, but she will have to make a decision.”
Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, told the Washington Examiner he believes Pelosi will send the articles over “soon.”
Other Democrats have more bluntly called on Pelosi to send over the articles. “I think the time has passed,” Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, said Tuesday. “She should send the articles over.”
Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said he believed it was time to start the Senate trial.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, would not say when the House would send the articles or under what terms. “This matter will be decided by the speaker, and she will give you the information as to when, how, why, and what,” Hoyer told the Washington Examiner.
McConnell announced Tuesday he has the support of 51 senators to pass a resolution setting rules for an impeachment trial that replicate those established unanimously by Senate lawmakers ahead of Clinton’s impeachment trial.
He said the announcement effectively quashes efforts by Democrats to try to force the Senate to agree to a pre-trial witness list comprised of key Trump administration officials. Pelosi’s leverage, he said, “is nonexistent,” and the Senate “will not cede our authority to try this impeachment.”
But Pelosi said she’ll only send over the articles after she sees the details of the trial rules.
Pelosi, last night, sent a letter to House Democratic lawmakers criticizing McConnell’s trial rules and declaring she would appoint impeachment managers and send over the impeachment articles when McConnell publishes the resolution for the trial rules. McConnell hasn’t specifically indicated whether he would do so.
House Democrats who met privately this morning in the Capitol basement did not even talk about impeachment, lawmakers said afterward.
“There was no discussion of that at today’s caucus meeting,” House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries said. “I support the decision of the speaker to hold the articles until we get some clarity as to whether there will be a fair and impartial trial in the Senate.”
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are building support for a plan to change the Senate rules and start the trial as soon as next week.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, suggested Tuesday Pelosi would be ready to send over the articles.
“The speaker has said all along that she wanted to see the arena in which she was playing so she could appoint impeachment managers,” Schumer said. “She has some idea what’s happened.”
Democrats are eager to force Senate Republicans to vote on trial motions calling for several key administration witnesses. Democrats said even without a pre-trial agreement on witnesses, they will force Republicans to vote on calling witnesses once the trial starts.
“There’s multiple bites at the apple,” Kaine said.
Jeffries said before the House sends the articles, more details are needed, and Pelosi can’t appoint managers “in the absence of understanding the rules of engagement and what the contours of the trial would look like.”
