House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set a Wednesday vote to send the two articles of impeachment against President Trump over to the Senate.
For several weeks power-hungry Pelosi refused to send the articles of impeachment to the senate unless they bowed to her demands to call in more White House witnesses.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to cede his authority, pushed back against Pelosi and forced her to cave.
Associated Press reported:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi met privately Tuesday at the Capitol with House Democrats about next steps, ending her blockade a month after they voted to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Pelosi said the House will vote to transmit the charges and name the House managers for the case. She warned the Republican-led Senate off any idea of simply dismissing the case against Trump.
“The President and the Senators will be held accountable,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The American people deserve the truth, and the Constitution demands a trial.”
“This strange gambit has achieved absolutely nothing,” McConnell said on Monday of Pelosi’s threats and delay tactics.
The Senate “was never going to allow the Speaker to dictate” how to handle a trial. “The Senate will not be sucked into this precedent-breaking path,” McConnell said touting the separation of powers between the two chambers of congress.
The Kentucky Senator again blasted Pelosi from the Senate floor on Tuesday.
“Do these sound like leaders who really believe we are in a constitutional crisis, one that requires the ultimate remedy?” McConnell asked.
“It will fall to the Senate to end it with seriousness and sobriety,” he said.
Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) told reporters on Monday that the GOP caucus does not have 51 votes to dismiss the articles of impeachment.
It would take 51 votes in the Senate to dismiss the articles of impeachment.
Currently there are 53 Republican Senators and 47 Democrats, including 2 Independents who caucus with Democrats.
In order for the Senate to convict Trump and remove him from office, two-thirds of the Senate would have to vote in favor of removal which means 20 Republican Senators would have to turn on Trump, a highly unlikely scenario.
