Posted on 12/22/2019 4:14:38 PM PST by Eddie01
Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short, is "confident" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will send the House-passed articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate, despite her threats to withhold them until lawyers agree on Senate trial terms.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Short told host Chris Wallace that Pelosi will eventually move the impeachment process along.
"The reality is that she said in the House that this president poses such a grave danger to the globe that we have to trample on his constitutional rights ... We’re going to trample those rights to rush this through, and now we’re going to hold it up to demand a longer process in the Senate with more witnesses," he said.
“We’re quite confident this position is untenable, and she’s going to move it along,” he continued, later adding, “She will yield; there’s no way she can hold this position.”
After the House passed two articles of impeachment against Trump, including abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, Pelosi indicated that she might not send the articles to the Republican-controlled Senate right away. Instead, she would like to wait until Republican Senate leaders set terms for a trial that are fair to Democrats.
Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina later said he would support indefinitely withholding the articles from the Senate if that is what Pelosi chooses to do, saying he is willing to wait “as long as it takes."
Short also expressed that the president is looking forward to a fair trial in the Senate, which could include calling in witnesses.
“He’s frustrated by what he finds to be a completely unreasonable impeachment. So, sure, he’s frustrated by that, but he’s also anxious to get not just acquitted but exonerated in the Senate. So, he’s looking forward to his opportunity to have a fair trial in the Senate,” he said.
When pressed on if that means calling witnesses to testify, Short responded, "When [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer says he wants the same proceedings as what happened to [Bill] Clinton, I think that’s what we welcome too. He’s trying to change the rules and have a whole different process."
The House impeachment has not been “perfected”.
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That is, the Senate has to be notified by the House before the Senate’s sole power can have effect.
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Until that notification, impeachment is just so much loose talk.
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It is a legislative relay. The House impeachment resolutions expire at the end of this Congress.
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