House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith called for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
On Dec. 13, the House passed two articles of impeachment against President Trump but have yet to turn the articles over to the Senate for the trial. Following a rushed process in the House, Speaker Pelosi has been withholding the articles in an attempt to force Senate Republicans to change the trial procedure to include witness testimony from individuals who were not questioned by the House.
During a Thursday morning interview on CNN’s New Day, Smith acknowledged that it’s unlikely the Republican-controlled Senate would change the impeachment process to include more testimony after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he had the votes to move forward without conceding to Pelosi’s demands.
“I understand what the speaker is trying to do, basically trying to use the leverage of that to work with Democratic and Republican Senators to try and get a reasonable trial, a trial that would actually show evidence, bring out witnesses,” the Washington Democrat said. “But at the end of the day, just like we control it in the House, Mitch McConnell controls it in the Senate.”
He added, “I think it was perfectly advisable for the speaker to try and leverage that to get a better deal, but at this point, it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen, and, yes, I think it is time to send the impeachment to the Senate and let Mitch McConnell be responsible for the fairness of the trial. He ultimately is.”
JUST NOW: (wow) “I think it is time to send the impeachment to the Senate and let Mitch McConnell be responsible for the fairness of the trial. “
That is Dem Armed Services chair @repadamsmith on @NewDay. First chair to move to that position?pic.twitter.com/pxlQWEdN41
— John Berman (@JohnBerman) January 9, 2020
Up to this point, Pelosi’s chairmen have been on her side as she withheld the articles. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff called the decision a “success” because it showed that Republicans wouldn’t change the process.
“One success that this has already had is flushing out McConnell. Showing that he’s working in cahoots with the president, and he has made himself an active participant in the president’s cover-up. So, the American people needed to see that, and now they do,” Schiff said on Sunday.
