In a bizarre turn of events Nancy Pelosi is now refusing to send her articles of impeachment to the Senate, suggesting the Senate thus far isn’t indicating that it will hold a fair trial and until it does, she won’t be sending them. This according to a Politico reporter:
NEW: Pelosi says she won't name impeachment managers until there's a "fair trial" in Senate — essentially holding up the process.
"So far we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us," Pelosi said, without detailing exact demands.
"But right now, the president is impeached."
— Sarah Ferris (@sarahnferris) December 19, 2019
Amazing that she’s calling for a ‘fair trial’ in the Senate after the blatantly unfair ‘Schiff Show’ that refused due process to the president and wouldn’t allow Republicans to call any of their own witnesses.
According to Chad Pergram, what Pelosi is doing with this move is to try and leverage her authority to force McConnell to negotiate with Schumer to get a longer impeachment trial in the Senate:
1) Pelosi indicated that the House might not immediately send articles of impeachment to the Senate – waiting to see if the Senate will conduct a fair trial.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 19, 2019
3) Pelosi is always deft at finding a wedge. So she's willing to hold onto the articles of impeachment to see if McConnell/Schumer can come to an agreement for a fair trial – and not tilt the field toward the President in the GOP-controlled Senate.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 19, 2019
Pergram suggests McConnell has leverage as well…
7) Pelosi has ball control here over whether the Hse will send impeachment articles to the Senate
By the same token, McConnell might say he’s not going to have a conversation with Schumer until there is something to discuss: e.g.- the articles are sent to the Senate.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) December 19, 2019
