Democrat senators call on Nancy Pelosi to hurry up on impeachment

A growing number of US Senate Democrats are calling for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send over the articles of impeachment.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with Nancy Pelosi on Capitol Hill in Washington. Picture: AFP

A growing number of US Senate Democrats are calling for House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to send over the ­articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, saying the party has little to gain from further delay.

“I think it’s time to turn the ­articles over and let’s see where the Senate can take it,” Democrat senator Joe Manchin said on Thursday.

Others in the Democratic caucus, including senators Dianne Feinstein, Richard Blumenthal, Chris Murphy and Angus King also encouraged Ms Pelosi to send the articles to the Senate so a trial could begin.

The Democratic-led house approved abuse-of-power and obstruction-of-congress impeachment articles last month alleging that Mr Trump improperly pressed Ukraine to launch investigations into political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing.

Ms Pelosi has held off on sending the articles to the Senate, saying she wanted to know the process Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was going to set for the trial.

Democrats have pressed for guarantees for new witnesses and documents to be included, which Senator McConnell has rejected.

Ahead of the trial, the White House has solidified plans for Mr Trump’s impeachment team. Jay Sekulow, an member of Mr Trump’s personal legal team, will be a member of the trial team, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr Trump’s trial team has begun to more clearly define roles in recent days amid the delay in the articles being sent to the Senate.

On Wednesday, Senator McConnell said he had enough support from Senate Republicans to move forward on impeachment with no bipartisan agreement on how a trial would be structured. His plan would delay the determination of whether to include witnesses until after the trial begins.

In response, Ms Pelosi called on Senator McConnell to publish a resolution outlining rules for the impeachment trial first before the house sent over the articles. The Senate leader declined.

‘There will be no haggling with the house over Senate procedure,” he said. “We will not cede our authority to try this impeachment. The house Democrats’ turn is over. The Senate has made its decision.”

A senior Democratic aide said Ms Pelosi’s strategy has worked to bring new material to light, pointing to former national sec­urity adviser John Bolton’s statement this week that he would be willing to testify, and new emails published last week showing the Pentagon was concerned about the White House decision to freeze security aid to Ukraine at the same time as Mr Trump was seeking the investigations.

Some Democratic senators questioned whether further delays give Democrats more leverage. “Ultimately, we’re going to have to figure out the rules, and I just don’t know that McConnell is going to feel a lot of pressure” over the delay, Senator Murphy said.

“We are reaching a point where the articles of impeachment should be sent,” Senator Blumenthal said.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said that absent a bipartisan agreement on the trial rules, Democrats could repeatedly call votes throughout the trial on subpoenaing new witnesses and fresh evidence. Such moves would force votes from Republican senators facing tough re-election fights.

“Evidence should not be an afterthought,” Senator Schumer said. “Why would it make sense for both sides to present their entire case, and then decide whether the Senate should request the evidence that we already know is out there?”

Besides Mr Bolton, Senate Democrats have called for testimony from acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney; his aide, Robert Blair; and Office of Management and Budget official Michael Duffey. During the house impeachment inquiry, the White House directed officials not to testify.

The Wall Street Journal