House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said Thursday that she’ll send the articles of impeachment to the Senate “when I’m ready,” but that it will “probably be soon.”
“All we want to know is: what are the rules,” she said in her weekly press briefing on Thursday. “It doesn’t mean we have to agree to the rules, or we have to like the rules, we just want to know what they are.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and other Republicans have long been criticizing her for hanging onto the articles, though she has responded that she’s waiting to see what kind of trial the Senate is planning to have.
McConnell said earlier this week that he has the votes needed to approve his rule proposal for the layout of the trial. It would entail beginning the proceedings and pushing the witness debate later down the line. Democrats are in strong opposition to the plan, but Republicans have enough of a majority that they don’t need any bipartisan support.
House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith (D-WA) said Thursday morning that he thinks it’s “time” for her to transmit the articles, though he walked back the comments later in the morning.
Pelosi has remained unswayed by mainly Republican demands that she hand over the articles, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) praised her for focusing attention on Senate Republicans’ opposition to calling witness or documents into evidence.
“I’m not responsible to Mitch McConnell or anybody else but my members,” she said.
