Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly signed on as a co-sponsor to a resolution that would change Senate rules and allow lawmakers to dismiss impeachment if articles are not forwarded by the House.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has yet to send the articles of impeachment over to the Senate, instead insisting on assurances that the trial be held according to her liking.
In a press conference Thursday, Pelosi said she would not hold the articles “indefinitely’ and would “probably” send them to the Senate “soon.”
McConnell has decided to put her on the clock.
On Thursday, he backed the resolution submitted by Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) designed to “change Senate impeachment rules to allow the chamber to dismiss the House’s articles if they are not sent over within 25 days.”
RELATED: Mitch McConnell is Moving Forward on Impeachment Whether Democrats Like It Or Not
Inbox: @senatemajldr has signed on as a co-sponsor of @HawleyMO‘s resolution to change Senate impeachment rules to allow the chamber to dismiss the House’s articles if they are not sent over within 25 days.
— Nicholas Fandos (@npfandos) January 9, 2020
Calling Pelosi’s Bluff
In signing onto the resolution, Pelosi now has the ball in her court. She either continues obstructing the Senate and demanding a quid pro quo trying to shape the trial, or the entire impeachment process gets dropped with no action.
Regardless of her chosen path, the Speaker has shown that cries of ‘urgency’ and claims that the President is an imminent ‘threat to national security’ have been nothing short of lies.
“This is what they have done: They have initiated one of the most grave and most unsettling processes in our Constitution and then refused to allow a resolution,” McConnell said Thursday.
“The Speaker began something that she herself predicted would be ‘so divisive to the country’ … and now she is unilaterally saying it cannot move forward towards a resolution.”
RELATED: Senators in the Know Suggest Multiple Democrats Could Vote to Acquit Trump
NEW: Mitch McConnell has signed onto a resolution to change the rules of the Senate to dismiss articles of impeachment if they are not transmitted within 25 days of their approval — in this case, Jan. 12.https://t.co/tNpA30Kl8Q
— Axios (@axios) January 9, 2020
25 Days
You might be wondering why McConnell would give Pelosi 25 days to play her political games. This isn’t the case according to Axios. In fact, she only has until Sunday.
According to the outlet, the clock starts from the day the articles of impeachment were approved or, “in this case, Jan. 12.”
Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday, McConnell slammed Pelosi for spending “12 weeks undermining the institution of the presidency with an historically unfair and subjective impeachment and now, for the sequel, they’ve come after the institution of the Senate as well.”
There will be no haggling with the House over Senate procedure. We will not cede our authority to try this impeachment. The House Democrats’ turn is over. The Senate has made its decision. This is for the Senate, and the Senate only, to decide.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) January 8, 2020
Republican Senators have suggested that should Pelosi actually send the articles of impeachment over, and a trial conducted, the President would be acquitted with even a few Democrats voting to do so.
Reports have indicated McConnell originally planned to acquit the President flat-out. CNN had relayed that he was seeking to vote on acquittal to clear the President of charges brought against him by the House Democrats.
67 votes are required for conviction – rather than “simply rely[ing] on a 51-vote threshold procedural motion to dismiss the hotly disputed case.”
Perhaps that is the most obvious reason for Pelosi hanging on to the articles for as long as possible. Once it hits the Senate, he will be acquitted and the entire effort will be forgotten well before the election.
Now, her hand is being forced. What is she going to do?
