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Impeachment news roundup: Jan. 13

Pelosi says no regrets in holding impeachment articles to try to push Senate to hear from witnesses

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said no matter the outcome of the impeachment trial in the Senate, President Donald Trump is “impeached for life.” (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said no matter the outcome of the impeachment trial in the Senate, President Donald Trump is “impeached for life.” (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

As action on impeachment could move this week from the House to the Senate, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she had no second thoughts about her three-week delay in sending the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate.

“No, no, no,” Pelosi answered when asked on ABC’s “This Week” if she regretted holding the articles in an unsuccessful attempt to force the Senate to call witnesses in its trial.

As she did last week, the speaker said the delay allowed new information to come forward, including former national security adviser John Bolton’s offer to testify in a Senate trial if subpoenaed. And that it exposed that Republicans don’t plan to give Trump a fair trial in the Senate.

“We wanted the public to see the need for witnesses, witnesses with firsthand knowledge of what happened, documentation which the president has prevented from coming to the Congress as we review this,” Pelosi told anchor George Stephanopoulos.

As for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s refusing to budge on his position that the Senate would hold its trial first before considering witnesses or that the Senate could vote to dismiss, Pelosi called that amounts to a “coverup.”

“Dismissing is a coverup. If they want to go that route again, the senators who are thinking now about voting for witnesses or not — they will have to be accountable for not having a fair trial.”

The end result is that Trump is “impeached for life” regardless of “any gamesmanship” by McConnell, Pelosi said.

Trump advocated for dismissal in a tweet Sunday afternoon, saying a trial in the Senate would give credibility to “the partisan Democratic Witch Hunt.”

Here is the latest on impeachment:

Timing: The House is in session this afternoon, but won’t take up the articles until Tuesday after Pelosi meets with her caucus. The speaker has said she will schedule a vote on naming impeachment managers after hearing from her caucus.

After the resolution on impeachment managers is adopted, the articles will be formally sent to the Senate, involving pomp and a procession from the House.

The Senate will have to approve a resolution detailing a framework for the impeachment trial before it started. The Senate will be in session six days a week starting at 1 p.m., excluding Sundays, to conduct its trial unless senators vote to institute a different schedule.

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