Posted on 12/19/2019 7:58:59 PM PST by karpov
WASHINGTON — The day after the House cast historic votes to impeach President Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi put an abrupt halt on the proceedings, holding back from sending the charges to the Republican-led Senate in a politically risky bid to exert influence over the contours of an election-year trial.
With some leading Democrats pushing to delay transmittal of the articles and others advocating that they be withheld altogether, the limbo is likely to persist until the new year. The House left town on Thursday for a two-week holiday recess without taking the votes to appoint impeachment managers, which is required to start the process in the Senate.
“We are ready,” said Ms. Pelosi, who has said she would not send the charges or name the lawmakers who would prosecute the case against Mr. Trump until she was certain of a fair process for a Senate trial. “When we see what they have, we will know who and how many we will send over.”
By withholding the articles, Ms. Pelosi is hoping that Mr. Trump — who is eager for a trial to present his defense and clear his name — will put pressure on Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, to commit to Democratic demands, including the ability to call witnesses during the trial.
But the speaker’s strategy is also a gamble. Having toiled to present the House impeachment inquiry and the votes on Wednesday as a somber duty rooted in the Constitution, Ms. Pelosi risks appearing to politicize the matter if she withholds the charges for negotiating leverage.
And Mr. McConnell was entirely unmoved by Ms. Pelosi’s tactics, delivering a speech on Thursday evening in which he appeared barely able to contain his amusement at what he regarded as the speaker’s missteps.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
” I believe she is demanding a quid pro quo...”
A quid pro quo relating to the investigation of a political rival!!!!
Apparently the dems, in their collective dementia, have forgotten that time is not on their side. The longer this tawdry episode lasts, the worse the political landscape will be for them.
the writers: Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Nicholas Fandos
they write: Having toiled to present the House impeachment inquiry and the votes on Wednesday as a somber duty rooted in the Constitution, Ms. Pelosi risks appearing to politicize the matter …
it is unbelievable how stupid NYT are to think readers could take anything they write seriously.
Its imploding on the Democrats because they’re realizing Trump and McConnell are shrugging it off.
What the Democrats do or don’t do with impeachment is their problem. They own it because they voted for it.
Impeachmas isn’t turning out like the Democrats hoped.
Shoddy work product as McTurtle described it. He was positively grinning from ear to ear yesterday.
This made his work a lot easier and since Democrats got cold feet, it betrays the lack of confidence they have in their case against Trump.
The political dynamics have also changed and quite frankly after all the drama Wednesday, its both a PR and a political dud.
For the Democrats.
The President has already said publicly and cheerfully that he doesn’t “feel impeached”, which is exactly the right tone to adopt if the goal is to make Democrat heads explode, and to dampen the negative connotations of impeachment.
The idea here is that an impeachment is like an accusation, or a condemnation - it makes all the difference in the world who is doing the accusing, or the condemning - whether or not they lack credibility, whether or not they lack proof, whether or not they are negatively biased - as in this weak and partisan impeachment is clearly the case.
But now the President should go one step further and publicly announce that he hasn’t actually been impeached, until the Senate has received the articles. He should say this boldly and cheerfully and often.
Of course, “constitutional scholars” will come out of the woodwork arguing both sides, but that will only work to the President’s advantage, since it will raise doubts among the general public - and doubts are all he needs to render this sham of an impeachment entirely toothless.
I suppose the Democrats could ask for a court ruling, but I seriously doubt the courts would take up such an abstract matter - a question of semantics - especially when there is practical remedy so close at hand: namely, send the articles to the Senate!
I hope the President takes this approach and simply denies he is impeached. Democrat heads will explode and they will have no choice but to quickly send the articles to the Senate, or look even weaker if they don’t.
Yep - having a Grand Jury decide to indict, and then not actually making the charges formal is akin to absolutely nothing happening..if it happened to you w/o your knowledge, you would never know anyone ever looked at you.
The House resolution specifies “let these be exhibited to the Senate”.
Get on with it.
Days ago I publicly wondered (here on FReeRepublic) if Nancy wouldn’t “walk impeachment into a dark closet and murder it”. It appears at the last moment she has. Curious.
You salute the uniform, not the man.
NYTimes readers will drink whatever Kool Aid they are served. They gulp it down.
U made some great points.....excellent post!
This says it all...
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Watch the Dems panic when Ruth “Buzzy” Ginsberg kicks the bucket and Mitch moves to fill her slot. Mitch will close down the Senate for a recess appointment if they send the articles to delay confirmation of a replacement. Trump could recess appoint Jay Sekulow to fill Buzzy’s shoes while the Locusts obstruct his nominee. It would make perfect sense as Buzzy was Chief legal for ACLU. Sekulow holds about the equivalent position on the conservative end of the spectrum.
I am actually listed on VA records as a terminal patient not expected to live to see the 2020 election due to lung disease (IPF) but my goal is to vote for Donald J. Trump again even if it is my last act in this life. My secondary goal is to live long enough to see the election of his Republican successor in 2024. I don’t give up easily.
The difference is that there were actual grounds for impeaching Clinton, the senate came up with the absurd argument that the charges “do not rise to the level” of impeachment even though he was already impeached. Had Clinton been a Republican he would have been thrown out by his own party. There are many more charges that could have been made against Clinton but were not. On the other hand no evidence of an actual impeachable offense by Trump has been released.
Worst Speaker of the House, EVER!
She MUST resign!
But, she won’t.
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