WASHINGTON—House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said the Senate needs to show “what the terms of engagement will be” in President Trump’s trial before she turns over the articles of impeachment, but she signaled a resolution to the deadlock could come soon.
Mrs. Pelosi said she was unmoved by calls from Republicans and some Democrats to transmit the articles, and reiterated she was waiting for more information from the Senate before naming impeachment managers and sending over the case. But she said she would not keep them indefinitely.
“As I’ve said right from the start: we need to see the arena in which we are sending our managers. Is that too much to ask?” she told reporters. “I’ll send them over when I’m ready. That will probably be soon.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) told Senate Republicans at a lobster lunch on Thursday that he expected to receive the articles within days, according to people at the lunch. Senators were told not to expect to go home next weekend.
Mr. McConnell also signed onto a proposal by Sen. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) to change Senate rules to permit the dismissal of impeachment articles if Mrs. Pelosi doesn’t send them over within 25 days. To pass, such a rule change would need 67 votes, making it unlikely to pass without Democratic support. GOP leaders could potentially deploy the so-called nuclear option to force through the rules change with 51 votes, even if no Democrats support it, but Mr. McConnell has given no indication he is prepared to do that.
Share Your Thoughts
Should Sen. McConnell respond to the House Speaker and release more details on the process of the Senate impeachment trial? Why or why not? Join the conversation below.
Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. McConnell have jousted over the issue for several weeks. The Democratic-led House approved abuse-of-power and obstruction-of-Congress impeachment articles in December alleging that Mr. Trump improperly pressed Ukraine to launch investigations that could benefit him politically in the 2020 election. He has denied wrongdoing.
Mrs. Pelosi then withheld the articles as Democrats pressed for guarantees that new witnesses and evidence be heard in the Senate trial, but Mr. McConnell has rejected their demands. He has said he has enough support from Senate Republicans, without any Democratic support, to move forward with trial rules that would delay the determination of whether to include witnesses until after the trial begins.
Some House Democrats say the delay has borne fruit. They point to former national-security adviser John Bolton’s statement on Monday that he would be willing to testify, and new emails published last week showing the Pentagon was concerned about the White House decision to freeze security aid to Ukraine at the same time that Mr. Trump was seeking the investigations.
Mrs. Pelosi has largely kept her House caucus together on the issue, and those who have strayed have been quickly pulled back in line. On Thursday, House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D., Wash.) said on CNN that Mrs. Pelosi should send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, despite the lack of guarantees sought by Democrats. He reversed himself hours later, saying he misspoke and that he supported Mrs. Pelosi’s delay.
Other Democrats doubt that there is leverage left to be gained by continuing to hold the articles. A number of Senate Democrats have said Mrs. Pelosi should send over articles, saying the party had little to gain from further delay. Mrs. Pelosi emphasized Thursday that she wanted to see the rules, not seek to change them.
“All we want to know is what are the rules? Doesn’t mean we have to like the rules,” she said.
Related Video
Republicans have jumped on statements from Senate Democrats as a sign of disunity in the party.
“The Speaker of the House has managed to do the impossible,” Mr. McConnell said on the Senate floor Thursday. “She has created this growing bipartisan unity in the United States Senate…in opposition to her own reckless behavior.”
As Mrs. Pelosi waits, the campaign season is building. A Senate trial could force several senators running for president off the campaign trail to sit in their seats, ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, the nation’s first nominating contest.
Democrats in competitive districts want the articles to be moved quickly, as they see a continued focus on impeachment hurting their ability to focus on kitchen-table issues such as health care and infrastructure.
“I think it’s time” to move the articles, said Rep. Ben McAdams, a Democrat who represents a Utah district that Mr. Trump won in 2020. He voted in favor of the impeachment articles last month.
Mr. McConnell met with Mr. Trump on Wednesday and discussed the expected Senate impeachment trial, according to an administration official. The White House is supportive of Mr. McConnell’s plan to address the question of whether to call witnesses after the trial begins, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are growing impatient. Aside from the proposal from Mr. Hawley, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) has proposed changing the Senate rules so the chamber could start an impeachment trial without the articles.
Besides Mr. Bolton, Senate Democrats have called for testimony from acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney ; his aide, Robert Blair; and Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffey. During the House impeachment inquiry, the White House directed officials not to testify.
—Lindsay Wise contributed to this article.
Write to Natalie Andrews at Natalie.Andrews@wsj.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
"House" - Google News
January 10, 2020 at 04:19AM
https://ift.tt/2TcDzuH
Pelosi Says House Will Continue to Hold On to Articles of Impeachment - Wall Street Journal
"House" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2q5ay8k
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Pelosi Says House Will Continue to Hold On to Articles of Impeachment - Wall Street Journal"
Post a Comment