House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she will send the articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate next week so the upper chamber can begin its trial.
"I have asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to be prepared to bring to the Floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate," Pelosi wrote in a letter to her caucus.
#BREAKING: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asks House Judiciary CMTE chairman Jerry Nadler to be ready to have impeachment managers named next week and send two articles of impeachment to the Senate. pic.twitter.com/PKVGP4RNHC
— Jennifer Franco (@jennfranconews) January 10, 2020
"I will be consulting with you at our Tuesday House Democratic Caucus meeting on how we proceed further," Pelosi added.
“I am very proud of the courage and patriotism exhibited by our House Democratic Caucus as we support and defend the Constitution,” she wrote.
Nancy Pelosi just announced that after weeks of delay & obstructing Congress, she’ll send the articles of impeachment to the Senate. We will follow the same rules unanimously approved during the Clinton impeachment. If Schumer supported the rules then, he should support them now.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) January 10, 2020
About time. @SpeakerPelosi has been holding these articles for almost a month.
— Rep. Michael Waltz (@RepMichaelWaltz) January 10, 2020
So much for @realDonaldTrump's impeachment being "urgent." https://t.co/aBwAnldRrV
Patience among Senate Democrats was running thin over Pelosi's approach of withholding the impeachment articles from the upper chamber, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal saying Wednesday that the articles should be sent and Sen. Dianne Feinstein questioning "what good delay does."
According to one report, Pelosi's strategy was inspired by former Nixon White House counsel John Dean.
Dean suggested the unorthodox plan during a December 5 appearance on [CNN], leading Pelosi to propose it to leading members of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee during a private brainstorming session on December 17 — one night before the House’s vote to impeach the president. A Democratic aide who was present in the room told Time that Pelosi brought up the withholding strategy by saying, “Somebody said to me today that he may not even take up what we send. [But] then [Trump] will never be vindicated.”
“He will be impeached forever. Forever,” she added, per the aide. “No matter what the Senate does.”
On Tuesday, she urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to disclose the resolution that will show the "arena in which we will be participating, appoint managers and transmit the articles to the Senate."
Read the full letter below:
Dear Democratic Colleague,
For weeks now, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has been engaged in tactics of delay in presenting transparency, disregard for the American people's interest for a fair trial and dismissal of the facts.
Yesterday, he showed his true colors and made his intentions to stonewall a fair trial even clearer by signing on to a resolution that would dismiss the charges. A dismissal is a cover-up and deprives the American people of the truth. 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.
The American people have clearly expressed their view that we should have a fair trial with witnesses and documents, with more than 70 percent of the public stating that the President should allow his top aides to testify. Clearly, Leader McConnell does not want to present witnesses and documents to Senators and the American people so they can make an independent judgment about the President's actions.
Honoring our Constitution, the House passed two articles of impeachment against the President -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress -- to hold the President accountable for asking a foreign government to interfere in the 2020 elections for his own political and personal gain.
While the House was able to obtain compelling evidence of impeachable conduct, which is enough for removal, new information has emerged, which includes:
-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.
I am very proud of the courage and patriotism exhibited by our House Democratic Caucus as we support and defend the Constitution. I have asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to be prepared to bring to the Floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate. I will be consulting with you at our Tuesday House Democratic Caucus meeting on how we proceed further.
In an impeachment trial, every Senator takes an oath to "do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws." Every Senator now faces a choice: to be loyal to the President or the Constitution.
No one is above the law, not even the President.
Thank you for your leadership For The People.
Sincerely,
Nancy
This is a breaking news post and will be updated with additional information.