Just minutes after the U.S. House of Representatives impeached Pres. Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dropped another bombshell. She may delay sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial because she wants to ensure that they’ll get a fair hearing.
“We have legislation approved by the Rules Committee that will enable us to decide how we will send over the articles of impeachment,” Pelosi announced in a Wednesday night press conference. “We cannot name [impeachment] managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side.”
Nancy Pelosi: "We have legislation approved…that will enable to decide how we send over the articles of impeachment."
"We cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side…so far we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us." https://t.co/KV8jBJCHcL pic.twitter.com/LcgasQXGHv
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) December 19, 2019
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) backed up Speaker Pelosi.
“The question is now whether Sen. McConnell will allow a fair trial in the Senate, whether the majority leader will allow a trial that involves witnesses and testimony and documents. A trial that should be fair to the president, yes, but should be fair to the American people,” he said.
This huge power play on Pelosi’s part could delay a trial in the Senate, and it’s a direct attempt by House Democrats to leverage their power to force Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to make sure a Senate trial would be fair.
Speaker Pelosi is holding on to the articles of impeachment until she gets Moscow Mitch to guarantee a fair trial. Awesome. No mercy. #RemoveTrump
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) December 19, 2019
McConnell has made it clear that he has no intention of giving the impeachment articles a fair trial. In fact, he’s collaborating with the accused and has plans in place to put the disgraced president and his White House in charge of the trial.
For one thing, McConnell refused to call witnesses in a Senate trial, which is a departure from what occurred during Pres. Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. McConnell also wants to push a trial through quickly to try to move Pres. Butthurt past all of the pain and heartbreak.
Shouldn’t Pelosi simply tell Trump: You claim to want a trial which you say will exonerate you. Then tell your supporters in the Senate to support a fair trial, with witnesses called by each side (including yours), and no claim of executive privilege for administration witnesses.
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 19, 2019
Twitter users are comparing Pelosi’s plans to what Mitch McConnell did to keep Merrick Garland out of his deserved SCOTUS seat.
The notion that Pelosi would effectively do to the impeachment articles what McConnell did to Merrick Garland's Supreme Court nomination is just … https://t.co/31zrqaTNj2
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) December 19, 2019
Will this move by House Democratic leadership sway McConnell? Not likely. He’s famous for digging in his heels and sticking to the most disastrous plans rather than lose face. McConnell said that he thinks Pelosi “may be too afraid” to send the articles of impeachment his way.
What Pelosi and the House Democrats are doing is unprecedented. It’s never been done before. But a lot of things that Trump and the Republicans have done (and are still doing) are also unprecedented.
Everything in this situation is unprecedented — I don't understand why folks are so alarmed by Pelosi's sensible pause here.
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) December 19, 2019
My message to Mitch McConnell and all the other Republicans is this: be careful what you wish for.
At 9:30am tomorrow morning, on the Senate floor, I will speak about House Democrats’ precedent-breaking impeachment of the President of the United States.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) December 19, 2019
Blah blah.
Pelosi will be meeting today with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss the path forward.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are meeting today at 11:30AM to discuss the path forward on impeachment, two sources tell NBC.
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) December 19, 2019
Featured image: screengrab from embedded video
