Sen. Dianne Feinstein broke ranks with fellow San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi when she urged the House speaker to end her blockade of the Senate trial to adjudicate impeachment charges against President Trump.
Since House Democrats approved two articles of impeachment three weeks ago, Pelosi, 79, coordinating with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, has been sitting on the documents in a bid to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to agree to more favorable terms for the trial.
But Senate Democrats are beginning to lose their patience with Pelosi’s maneuver. The intervention of Feinstein, 86, saying bluntly that the time had come for Pelosi to transmit the impeachment articles to the Senate makes it highly likely that her fellow Californian will do so.
“If we’re going to do it, she should send them over,” Feinstein said, according to a tweet posted by Laura Litvan of Bloomberg News. “I don’t see what good delay does.”
Just 24 hours earlier, McConnell revealed that he had at least 51 Republican votes for a resolution that would lay out terms for a trial that is very similar to the resolution adopted for the 1999 impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Republicans are not budging on Democratic demands, specifically their call for key administration officials to testify at trial. However, McConnell said Republicans would follow existing Senate rules and would wait for receipt of the articles before pursuing any trial action.
Pelosi, at least for now, has said she will continue to sit on the documents pending more information from McConnell regarding trial procedure.
