The House will vote sometime today to formally send articles of impeachment to the Senate. That’s the word from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who confirmed the plan with her caucus – and later to reporters.
“The American people deserve the truth, and the Constitution demands a trial,” she later said in a statement. “The House will now proceed with a vote on transmitting the articles of impeachment and naming impeachment managers...the President and the Senators will be held accountable.”
As part of the process moving forward, Speaker Pelosi is also expected to name her choices for impeachment managers, who will prosecute the case against Trump in the Senate trial. The Senate trial will determine is President Trump will be removed from office. Considering the Senate is led by a Republican majority, that seems highly unlikely. The trial is expected to begin next week.
As you’ll recall, Trump was impeached by the House back on December 18th for abusing his power and obstructing Congress in the investigation of the Ukraine scandal. Pelosi has been withholding the articles of impeachment over concerns about how the Senate would handle the trial, and whether it will be fair.
While President Trump has suggested dismissing the trial, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says that’s not going to happen. Opening the Senate, McConnell said that Pelosi’s delay suggests that House Democrats don't have confidence in their case against the President. He called the case "half-baked” and when speaking to reporters didn’t dismiss the notion of hosting witnesses. “We’ll be dealing with the witness issue at the appropriate time into the trial,” McConnell offered. “And I think it’s certainly appropriate to point out that both sides would want to call witnesses if they wanted to hear from them. I can’t imagine that only the witnesses our Democratic colleagues want to call will be called.”
Source: ABC News