Republicans impeach Clinton over a blow-job, Democrats impeach over TREASON!

Pelosi threatens to delay Senate impeachment trial

Some legal scholars have suggested she could consider refusing to transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate.

By KYLE CHENEY, SARAH FERRIS and JOHN BRESNAHAN

Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to commit Wednesday to delivering articles of impeachment to the Senate, citing concerns about an unfair trial on removing President Donald Trump from office.

Senior Democratic aides said the House was “very unlikely” to take the steps necessary to send the articles to the Senate until at least early January, a delay of at least two weeks and perhaps longer.

“So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us,” Pelosi told reporters at a news conference just moments after the House charged Trump with abuse of power and obstructing congressional investigations. “That would’ve been our intention, but we’ll see what happens over there.”

Pelosi’s comments, which echo suggestions raised by other Democrats throughout the day, inject new uncertainty into the impeachment timetable and send the House and Senate lurching toward a potential institutional crisis.

Though the House adopted two articles of impeachment charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of congressional investigations, it must pass a second resolution formally naming impeachment managers to present the case in the Senate. That second vehicle triggers the official transmission of articles to the Senate.

By delaying passage of that resolution, Pelosi and top Democrats retain control of the articles and hope to put pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to adopt trial procedures they consider bipartisan.

McConnell has boasted that he has closely coordinated the planning of the trial with the White House and has repeatedly predicted Trump would be acquitted. He’s also suggested Democrats shouldn’t be allowed to call new witnesses as they attempt to present their case.

The White House lashed out at the move. “House Democrats have run a fatally flawed process with fake facts, and now they want to deny the President his day in court with another procedural maneuver that proves anew they have no case,” said Eric Ueland, Trump’s top congressional liaison to Congress.

Pelosi’s remarks follow similar comments from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the second-ranking lawmaker in the House, who said Democrats must discuss a last-ditch gambit to delay sending articles of impeachment to the Senate and prevent the Republican-controlled chamber from summarily discarding the case against Trump.

In recent weeks, some legal scholars have suggested Speaker Nancy Pelosi could consider refusing to transmit the articles of impeachment that passed the House on Wednesday to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has declared he is coordinating trial strategy with the White House.

Though the request initially seemed to have little currency on Capitol Hill, it gained momentum in recent days as McConnell has continued to make clear he has little interest in serving as an impartial overseer of the Senate trial.

Hoyer said Democratic colleagues have approached him in recent days, citing an op-ed by constitutional lawyer Laurence Tribe in which he calls on Democrats to delay sending impeachment articles to the Senate until McConnell agrees to run a fairer process.

“Under the current circumstances, such a proceeding would fail to render a meaningful verdict of acquittal,” Tribe wrote. Notably, House Judiciary Committee Democrats huddled with Tribe earlier this month as they practiced behind closed doors for their series of impeachment hearings.

Pelosi’s remarks, which were barely audible above the clatter of camera shutters, were so unexpected that they prompted reporters to shout over each other, interrupting the speaker at times and generating confusion about the next steps in the impeachment process.

“So you may not send them?” one reporter interjected, to which Pelosi responded: “You’re asking me, ‘So are we all going to go out and play in the snow?’ That has not been part of our conversations.”

The last-minute twist was a stunning coda to the monthslong House impeachment process that had been meticulously choreographed by Pelosi and other senior Democrats. After the news conference, Pelosi huddled with top committee chairs leading Trump-focused investigations, and they emerged with a consistent message: The only story that matters is the president has been impeached.

“The only thing that matters is the president of the United States was impeached today,” said Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). As for the Senate? “One step at a time,” she said.

“We defended the Constitution and we defended our democracy,” said Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.). “Right now, that’s the story,” he said.

Some Democrats said they became convinced a delay in transmitting articles was under consideration when House leaders decided against naming impeachment managers — the set of lawmakers who would argue their case on the Senate floor — until an undetermined later date.

When President Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998, House leaders identified their impeachment managers the same day. But Pelosi instead will be empowered to pick managers at her discretion and without a deadline.

“The rule will allow the speaker to name managers at any point after the articles pass,” a senior House Democratic aide said, noting that the House needs to name managers in order to transmit the articles to the Senate.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said he's approached every member of House leadership about the idea and received responses ranging from interest to outright support. He said Pelosi, in particular, “indicated she was interested and considering it.”

“As long as we have the articles of impeachment under our control, we have an opportunity to prevent a travesty,” Blumenauer said.

Blumenauer argued that the House could use the delay to continue to build on its evidence for impeachment, and possibly to score additional legal victories that could unlock troves of new evidence and witness testimony that the Trump administration has withheld from Congress. Some of those court cases could be decided within weeks.

“You can continue to build the record, you can get information and you argue for fairness and don't surrender until it’s clear that that is in the best interest of the process,” Blumenauer said.

In his remarks to reporters, Hoyer emphasized that early discussions about the timing of transmitting articles of impeachment to the Senate are “not in the context” of Tribe’s proposal. But he said colleagues keep raising it.

“People have read that article, discussed it. People have come up to me, discussed it,” he said, adding, “We will talk about it in some point in time. It’s within the speaker’s purview, obviously, she’ll make that decision. And I also think she’ll do it in discussions with McConnell and [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer.”