A Republican lawmaker is moving to censure House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over her unprecedented move of holding onto the articles of impeachment for more than three weeks — an event that’s never occurred in the nation’s history.
Rep. Bradley Byrne, Alabama Republican, introduced his resolution Thursday, charging the California Democrat with abusing her power.
“Speaker Pelosi’s decision to hold the articles of impeachment against President Trump in a pathetic and unconstitutional attempt to extract concessions from the Senate is an unprecedented abuse of power,” Mr. Byrne said.
He is calling for Mrs. Pelosi to transmit the articles of impeachment, saying that is what the founders intended.
“Until then, the leader of this attempt to throw out constitutional norms to remove our president must be held accountable,” Mr. Byrne added.
House Republicans also tried, and failed, to censure Rep. Adam B. Schiff, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, during the impeachment investigation.
Mrs. Pelosi has held on to the impeachment articles for more than three weeks, preventing an impeachment trial from beginning in the Senate.
She said Thursday that she won’t bow to the mounting pressure from Senate Republicans, who demand she turn the articles over this week.
The California Democrat has said she won’t hand them over until House Democrats are guaranteed a fair trial in the Republican-majority chamber.
While she didn’t offer a timeline on Thursday, Mrs. Pelosi said she won’t hold on to the articles “indefinitely.”
“I’ll send them over when I’m ready — and that will probably be soon,” she said.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, have been using the delay to demand Republicans guarantee the opportunity to hear from witnesses during the trial.
House Democrats impeached Mr. Trump on Dec. 18, charging him with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress stemming from a July 25 phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart where Mr. Trump requested a probe into his political rival, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.