After the vote to impeach President Donald Trump, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she will not name impeachment managers until she can be assured the Senate will hold a “fair” trial. Republican senators are pushing back on what Pelosi means by “fair.”
“The next thing for us will be when we see the process that is set forth in the Senate. Then we’ll know the number of managers that we may have to go forward and who we would choose,” Pelosi said during a press conference after the impeachment vote. “But, in any event, we’re ready, when we see what [the Senate has] we will know who and how many we will send over.
.@SpeakerPelosi on impeachment process: "When we see what they have we'll know who and how many we'll send over."
Full video here: https://t.co/7Iw5isKi7p pic.twitter.com/mtbGUebwiy
— CSPAN (@cspan) December 19, 2019
Pelosi also threatened to withhold submitting the two articles of impeachment to the Senate. This would stall the impeachment trial and undercut her argument for the urgency of impeachment.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Pelosi’s threats are “incredibly dangerous” and her plan to power grab ignores the separations of power statute.
“Just think for a moment, you pass articles of impeachment in the House, you refuse to send them into the Senate until the Senate constructs a trial of your liking as Speaker of the House,” Graham said. “We have separations of power for a reason. You can’t be Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the Senate at the same time.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham: "What they're proposing, to not send the articles for disposition to the Senate after being passed in the House, is incredibly dangerous." pic.twitter.com/EhgwIM7Omp
— The Hill (@thehill) December 19, 2019
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., joined Graham in criticizing Pelosi for her attempts to undermine the constitutional process of impeachment.
“Playing games with the transmission of the Articles to the Senate will not impede or influence the senate, but it will be the kind of partisan political stunt that further undermines the credibility of the process carried out by House Democrats,” Rubio tweeted.
Playing games with the transmission of the Articles to the Senate will not impede or influence the Senate,but it will be the kind of partisan political stunt that further undermines the credibility of the process carried out by House Democrats.
2/6
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) December 19, 2019
It is clear that while the vote of impeachment in the House has concluded, the House Speaker is desperate to stay involved in the process as long as she can to ensure a difficult and prolonged impeachment process.
