Two days after saying that that the House will vote to appoint impeachment managers this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed no regrets in holding onto the impeachment articles for three weeks.
During an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos Sunday morning, Pelosi reiterated that she plans to consult with House Democrats Tuesday morning during their regular caucus meeting.
“Well, what I did say is, I would be consulting with my members this week, on Tuesday morning, at our regular caucus meeting, that we would vote to send them over, and we will determine in our meeting when we send them over,” Pelosi said. “But it — we have never — I have always said I would send them over. So there shouldn’t be any mystery to that.”
When Pelosi added that she believes that Democrats accomplished their desire for “the public to see the need for witnesses,” Stephanopoulos pointed out that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “didn’t budge on witnesses at all” and is “not promising up front to have witnesses.”
“Well, he has — he will — I think that he will be accountable to the American people for that,” Pelosi said, before arguing that the Senate took the oath to “have a fair trial.”
“It’s about a fair trial. They take an oath to take — have a fair trial. And we think that would be with witnesses and documentation,” Pelosi said. “So, that dynamic has — now the ball is in their court to either do that, or pay a price for not doing it.”
Pelosi doubled down on her argument that McConnell “signed on to a resolution to dismiss the case” and called it a “cover-up.”
“Dismissing is a cover-up,” Pelosi said. “If they want to go that route, again, the senators who are thinking now about voting for witnesses or not, they will have to be accountable for not having a fair trial.”
Later in the interview, when Stephanopoulos pressed Pelosi on whether she has “any second thoughts about holding on” to the impeachment articles for three weeks, Pelosi denied any regrets because of “a positive result in terms of additional emails and un-redacted information that has come forward.”
“No, no, no. We feel that it — it’s a positive result in terms of additional emails and un-redacted information that has come forward, that [former national security adviser John] Bolton has said that he would testify if subpoenaed by the Senate, other information that has come forward,” Pelosi said. “And more importantly, raising the profile of the fact that we need to have witnesses and documentation, and if we don’t that is a cover-up.”
When asked by Stephanopoulos about her response to the President’s tweet seconds before the start of the interview, which called for Stephanopoulos to ask her to justify House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff’s comments during the House hearings, Pelosi responded that she’d like to “talk about some more pleasant subjects” on Sunday morning.
George @GStephanopoulos, ask Crazy Nancy why she allowed Adam “Shifty” Schiff to totally make up my conversation with the Ukrainian President & read his false words to Congress and the world, as though I said it? He got caught! Ask why hearing was most unfair & biased in history?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020
“Let me just say, it’s Sunday morning, I’d like to talk about some more pleasant subjects than the erratic nature of this president of the United States, but he has to know that every knock from him is a boost,” Pelosi said, before repeating her argument that “Trump is not worth impeachment.”
Watch Pelosi’s remarks below:
"No, no, no," Speaker Pelosi tells @GStephanopoulos when asked if she has "second thoughts" about waiting to send the articles of impeachment, adding that it "produced a positive result" and highlights the importance of having "witnesses and documents." https://t.co/DrRhiob214 pic.twitter.com/bS5i9FNcbA
— ABC News (@ABC) January 12, 2020
JUST IN: Pelosi responds to Trump's tweet about her appearance on @ThisWeekABC: "It's Sunday morning. I'd like to talk about some more pleasant subjects than the erratic nature of this president … but he has to know that every knock from him is a boost." https://t.co/DrRhiob214 pic.twitter.com/DRuiYqK3e5
— ABC News (@ABC) January 12, 2020
