Pelosi mum on when impeachment will reach Senate

President Trump was impeached Wednesday afternoon and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a ceremony to sign the article of impeachment hours later.

But the document still hasn’t been sent to the Senate, which would hold the actual trial.

Mrs. Pelosi, while proclaiming the matter “urgent,” brushed aside questions Friday over why the House hasn’t sent them to the Senate.

“You’ll be the first to know when we announce we’re going over there,” she told reporters.

Mr. Trump leaves office Wednesday, and any trial now would occur after he’s out.
Mrs. Pelosi gave every indication she still expects that to happen.

“Our managers are solemnly and prayerfully preparing for the trial,” she said.

Senators are not meeting for business this week, and top Republican Mitch McConnell already announced he wouldn’t call them back early, so sending the impeachment article over wouldn’t lead to any faster action. But it has prompted questions about the next steps.

Impeachment would dominate the Senate, perhaps for weeks, and that could derail the incoming administration’s efforts to get Cabinet nominees confirmed and to work on a new coronavirus relief package.

But delaying a trial for weeks or months would leave the specter of Mr. Trump hanging over a Capitol where many lawmakers had figured they’d be done with him.

Congress is also still dealing with the security fallout from last week’s assault on Congress.

Ms. Pelosi said she’s ordered a snap security review by a retired general.

And she warned consequences could follow if some news reports prove true that Republican lawmakers gave tours to people who later became part of the attack mob.

“If in fact it is found that members of Congress were accomplices to this insurrection, if they aided and abetted the crime, there may have to be actions taken beyond the Congress,” she said.