House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not eliminate the possibility her chamber could subpoena former National Security Adviser John R. Bolton, doubling down on her decision to withhold the articles of impeachment against President Trump for about three weeks.
“It’s not excluded,” she said Sunday during an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” when asked about a subpoena for Mr. Bolton. “We do think there is enough evidence to remove the president.”
“We have done our job,” she added. “We hope the Senate would do that as well.”
The California Democrat is set to meet with her caucus Tuesday to vote on when to send the articles to the Senate, where the trial will be held.
The two charges accuse the president of the abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, stemming from a July phone call with the Ukrainian president where he requested a probe into his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
A Senate trial cannot begin until the House transmits the articles. House Democrats voted to impeach Mr. Trump on a party-line vote Dec. 18.
Mrs. Pelosi has held onto the articles for more than three weeks, demanding a fair trial in Mr. McConnell’s Republican-controlled Senate. Democratic lawmakers have been pushing for Mr. McConnell to agree to more witness testimony but Mr. McConnell has insisted on sticking with the 1999 precedent from President Clinton’s trial, where witness testimony was debated later in the proceedings.
The first phase of the trial includes a presentation from House managers prosecuting the case against the president, and the president’s legal team is able to respond. Senators can then pose questions, but the issue of witnesses is debated later during the hearing.
“It’s about a fair trial. They take an oath to have a fair trial and we think that would be with witnesses and documentation,” Mrs. Pelosi said.
“Now, the ball is in their court to either do that or pay the price,” she added about the upper chamber, controlled by Republicans.
It takes 51 votes to call a witness during the impeachment trial. Republicans hold 53 seats and the Democratic caucus holds 47.
Mrs. Pelosi said she believed withholding the articles accomplished a positive result in allowing the public to understand the need to hear more evidence at trial. She noted that during the impasse, Mr. Bolton issued a statement saying he would be willing to testify if subpoenaed by the Senate.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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