US House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has said that the House would not commit to sending the articles of President Donald Trump’s impeachment to the Senate on Wednesday.
The lawmaker told a post-impeachment-vote news conference that “That would have been our intention, but we’ll see what happens over there.”
Some progressives have urged Democratic leaders to withhold the articles until Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, agrees to procedures for the Senate trial that Democrats have called for, as well as agreeing to bring in firsthand witnesses like acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to testify, according to CNN.
Pelosi said Democrats will make the decision “as a group” on when to send the articles to the Senate.
“We cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the Senate side, and we hope that will be soon,” Pelosi said after the House impeached Trump last night.
“So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us, so hopefully it will be fair.”
However, CNN reports that there are procedural concerns behind not sending the articles to the Senate on Wednesday night immediately after the votes.
Some of the concerns include that: Democrats can not send the articles at this time because the Senate would have to take them up Thursday, blocking votes on other measures, including a spending package that must pass before week’s end to avoid a government shutdown.
