It’s funny how Nancy Pelosi likes to accuse Trump of being unconstitutional yet she has no problem acting in a similar way. Her double standard is coming to an end as Mitch McConnell realizes that he has the votes to push back.
Pelosi’s demands have gone on long enough in her efforts to keep the thin articles of impeachment out of the hands of the Senate. Her reasoning is to demand a fair trial, making the statement to imply that it wouldn’t be fair without her constant meddling. She may want to take a closer look at her title, though. It’s Speaker of the House. The House of Representatives has no jurisdiction within the Senate. Meanwhile, she’s only proven that she has absolutely no faith in her Senate counterpart, Chuck Schumer, to guarantee that there’s a fair trial.
Luckily, McConnell is ready to fight fire with fire to show Pelosi that her unconstitutional demands have gone on long enough.
Pelosi is demanding that the Senate agree to the witnesses that the Democrats want. However, that’s not the way that the Senate trial works. Just as the House didn’t want to get input from the Republicans, the Republicans don’t want input from the Dems. Now, she’s refusing to give the articles of impeachment over.
Well, it’s time to call her bluff. McConnell has said that he’s not going to comply with the ridiculous request of hers. It appears he has the votes on his side to proceed with the trial without having to agree to any of Pelosi’s demands.
Since she’s insistent on her quid pro quo (though she wouldn’t call it that), the Senate will only decide on witnesses once the articles have been turned over.
The Senate is following the Clinton model. They’ll read over the articles, hear the House Dems, and then the White House. Once all cases are heard, they’ll determine which witnesses need to be called. Pelosi’s interjections are not needed nor are they desired.
The Dems would need a few Senators on their side to prevent this from happening. However, there are quite a few who want to stick with McConnell by going forward with the Clinton model. It’s the only FAIR way to do things, but Pelosi wouldn’t know fair if it smacked her in the face.
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) told reporters that the 1999 precedent should be followed so that the subpoenaing of additional witnesses only happens after the articles are delivered and both House impeachment managers and the Trump defense team have presented their opening arguments. She also identified that the Senate Majority Leader and Democratic Leader in 1999 adopted a resolution that set out the proceedings’ rules that didn’t include agreeing to specific witnesses to give their testimony.
Essentially, Pelosi is way out of place to ask for what she’s asking. It goes against precedent and McConnell and the rest of the Senate have had enough.
All of this means that Pelosi has no choice but to come forward with the articles of impeachment. She’s not going to get a deal out of the Senate because the Senators want a fair trial. They want to follow the precedent that was set when Congress had to go through the process with Bill Clinton. Pelosi simply wants to tarnish the trial as Schiff did for the impeachment hearings in the House – and the Republicans are smarter than that so it’s not going to happen.
What if Pelosi doesn’t hand over the impeachment articles?
She may want to remember that she and the rest of the House Dems just impeached Trump due to obstruction of justice. The longer she holds onto them for her quid pro quo means that she’s more and more likely to get slapped with her own obstruction of justice. She could be kicked out of Congress for it – and there will be plenty of Senators lining up to make that happen.
In the meantime, there are a few Republicans who are working to set a timeline for Pelosi. If she doesn’t comply with the rule that they’re working toward, it could dismiss the charges against Trump because of not adhering to the deadlines. After all, there’s supposed to be a fair trial. Pelosi simply cannot drag this ordeal out indefinitely.
McConnell is on it since it’s his playing field now. He respected the House deadlines. Now that it’s his turn to deal with the impeachment, he’s demanding that the ball be handed over. The problem is that Pelosi is acting like a sore loser.
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