House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated Friday that she planned to bring a resolution to the floor “next week” to transmit the articles of impeachment against Donald Trump to the Senate. Pelosi outlined the timing in a “Dear Colleague” letter, saying Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had shown his “true colors” Thursday when he signed on to a resolution that would dismiss the impeachment charges outright without even holding a trial.
“A dismissal is a cover-up and deprives the American people of the truth,” Pelosi wrote. “Leader McConnell’s tactics are a clear indication of the fear that he and President Trump have regarding the facts of the President’s violations for which he was impeached.”
Pelosi also highlighted important pieces of new information that have emerged since the House voted to impeach Donald Trump:
- On December 20, new emails showed that 91 minutes after Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky, a top Office of Management and Budget (OMB) aide asked the Department of Defense to “hold off” on sending military aid to Ukraine.
- On December 29, revelations emerged about OMB Director and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney’s role in the delay of aid, the effort by lawyers at the OMB, the Department of Justice and the White House to justify the delay, and the alarm that the delay caused within the Administration.
- On January 2, newly-unredacted Pentagon emails, which we had subpoenaed and the President had blocked, raised serious concerns by Trump Administration officials about the legality of the President’s hold on aid to Ukraine.
- And on January 6, just this week, former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton announced he would comply with a subpoena compelling his testimony. His lawyers have stated he has new relevant information.
She closed by saying she was “proud of the courage and patriotism” her caucus had demonstrated in defense of the Constitution and reminding everyone that U.S. senators must take an oath to “do impartial justice” during an impeachment trial.
”Every Senator now faces a choice: to be loyal to the President or the Constitution,” Pelosi concluded.
By the way, many Capitol Hill reporters are about to slobber all over McConnell, declaring him the “winner” of this tactical battle over the articles. If you want a different POV, here’s a thread. In the end, Pelosi got exactly what she wanted: a clear indication that McConnell planned to rig the Senate trial, even to the point of not holding one at all.