Pelosi Wants to See Senate Rules for Trial: Impeachment Update
Pelosi Faces Decision on Trial Standoff: Impeachment Update
(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House returned Tuesday from its holiday break amid the continuing standoff between Republicans and Democrats over how and when to conduct President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial.
Here are the latest developments:
Pelosi Wants to See Senate Rules for Trial (8:20 p.m.)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she wants to see the resolution that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to put forward setting out the rules for Trump’s impeachment trial.
Pelosi, who’s withheld delivering the articles of impeachment against Trump as Democrats push for including witnesses at the trial, cited McConnell saying Republicans would show Democrats the resolution “when we unveil it.”
“It is important that he immediately publish this resolution, so that, as I have said before, we can see the arena in which we will be participating, appoint managers and transmit the articles to the Senate,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Democrats that was released by her office.
In the letter, Pelosi accused McConnell of insisting on an approach that is unfair and “designed to deprive Senators and the American people of crucial documents and testimony.”
Pelosi Won’t Send Charges Yet, Lawmaker Says (7:10 p.m.)
Pelosi told fellow Democrats Tuesday that she isn’t ready to send articles of impeachment to the Senate and wants to see more details from that chamber on plans for a trial, according to a lawmaker who was in the meeting.
Pelosi is digging in after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced earlier in the day that he has the votes to start a trial without witnesses sought by Democrats.
Pelosi didn’t comment to reporters as she left the closed-door meeting.
Trump Says Decision on Bolton Up to Senate (3:24 p.m.)
Trump said it’s up to the Senate to decide whether John Bolton should testify in the president’s upcoming impeachment trial and downplayed the significance of what his former national security adviser could potentially reveal.
“That’s going to be up to the lawyers, it’ll be up to the Senate,” Trump said Tuesday during an Oval Office meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis when asked about the possibility of Bolton testifying.
“He would know nothing about what we’re talking about because, if you know, the Ukrainian government came out with a very strong statement ‘no pressure, no anything,’ and that’s from the boss,” Trump said.
Bolton said Monday he would testify if subpoenaed, injecting fresh drama into the impeachment proceedings, which have been delayed as Democrats demanded that key administration figures -- including Bolton -- appear as witnesses. -- Justin Sink
Democrats to Demand Votes on Trial Witnesses (2:54 p.m.)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats will insist on roll call votes on whether to demand witnesses and documents during the impeachment trial.
“We are telling our Republican colleagues, you can run but you can’t hide,” Schumer told reporters. “Will they stand for bringing evidence forward or will they be engaging in a coverup?”
“Whoever heard of a trial without witnesses and documents?” Schumer said. He said there’s a “pretty decent chance” that enough Republicans will vote to call for witnesses and documents during the trial.
The Democratic leader also said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “helped our case” by initially withholding the impeachment documents from the Senate. Her action kept McConnell from quickly dismissing the charges, he said, adding that during the past several weeks “a cascade of evidence” has become public to bolster the case against Trump. -- Laura Litvan
McConnell Says He Has Votes on Witness Issue (2:23 p.m.)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he has the votes to start an impeachment trial without initially deciding whether senators will subpoena witnesses, as Democrats are demanding.
The question of witnesses will be addressed later, after both sides have a chance to present their cases and senators have a chance to ask questions, the majority leader said. Democrats have sought a pre-trial agreement to call witnesses.
He said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hasn’t yet sent over the impeachment articles, and he hopes to receive them this week. -- Laura Litvan, Steven T. Dennis
McConnell Says Pelosi Holding Trial Hostage (10:48 a.m.)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to create a “pretrial hostage negotiation” to let the House control the way the Senate runs the impeachment trial.
“House Democrats say they’re waiting for some mystical leverage” from Pelosi’s decision to withhold the impeachment articles passed by the House, said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, on the Senate floor. “I have trouble seeing where the leverage is.”
Democrats want the GOP-led Senate to agree to call several current or former top Trump officials to testify in the Senate, including former National Security Adviser John Bolton, who said he’s willing to testify if subpoenaed.
McConnell reiterated that the template for Trump’s trial should be the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, in which each side presented its case before senators decided whether to hear testimony.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he and McConnell “have very different ideas about what it means to conduct a fair trial.”
“Trials should be informed by witnesses and documents,” the New York Democrat said. An acquittal of Trump would be meaningless if it came after a “sham trial,” he said.
“Mr. President, if you believe you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to be afraid of from witnesses and documents,” Schumer said. -- Laura Litvan
Pelosi Faces Decision on Trial Standoff (6 a.m.)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is returning to Washington, where she must decide when or whether to send the two impeachment charges to the Senate. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that chamber can’t proceed until it receives the articles.
Democrats want a commitment that the Senate will agree to call several current and former top Trump administration officials to testify about the president’s actions related to Ukraine.
One of those officials, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, bolstered the Democrats’ argument on Monday when he said he would testify if he’s subpoenaed. That could complicate McConnell’s plan for swift proceedings with no witnesses.
The 47 Democrats would need support from at least four Republicans to get the majority vote to order a subpoena. No Senate Republican has said he or she would vote to subpoena Bolton or any other witness.
Mitt Romney of Utah came the closest, saying, “I’d like to hear what he has to say” but adding that “time will tell” if he’ll vote with Democrats for Bolton to appear. -- Billy House
Catch Up on Impeachment Coverage
Impeachment Shifts to Senate Where Both Sides Want Speedy Trial
Trump Impeached on Two Counts by House, Setting Up Senate Trial
Key Events
- The House impeachment resolution is H.Res. 755. The Intelligence Committee Democrats’ impeachment report is here.
- Gordon Sondland’s transcript is here and here; Kurt Volker’s transcript is here and here. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch’s transcript is here and here; the transcript of Michael McKinley, former senior adviser to the secretary of State, is here. The transcript of David Holmes, a Foreign Service officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, is here.
- The transcript of William Taylor, the top U.S. envoy to Ukraine, is here and here. State Department official George Kent’s testimony is here and here. Testimony by Alexander Vindman can be found here, and the Fiona Hill transcript is here. Laura Cooper’s transcript is here; Christopher Anderson’s is here and Catherine Croft’s is here. Jennifer Williams’ transcript is here and Timothy Morrison’s is here. The Philip Reeker transcript is here. Mark Sandy’s is here.
--With assistance from Billy House and Justin Sink.
To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, John Harney
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