The original expectation was that the U.S. House would vote on articles of impeachment against Donald Trump, which would soon be followed by a trial in the U.S. Senate. That’s not quite what happened: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) held onto the articles, seeking more information on the Senate’s process, which had the effect of delaying the proceedings.
Nearly a month later, the California Democrat is now prepared to advance the process. NBC News reported this morning:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that the House will vote Wednesday to send the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate, three sources in a Democratic caucus meeting told NBC News on Tuesday.
Sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate is necessary to begin the trial. Pelosi on Wednesday will also name the House “managers” who will prosecute the case against Trump in the Senate, the sources said.
As things stand, after tomorrow’s floor vote in the House, the Senate can vote on its own process, and the general consensus is that the trial in the upper chamber will get under way a week from today.
Though Democrats hoped to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) into adopting trial rules that would mandate the role of witnesses, that’s almost certainly not going to happen. That said, several Republican senators are reportedly prepared to vote on whether to hear from witnesses after the trial is underway.
There’s no shortage of questions about how the process is likely to unfold in the coming days — we don’t yet know who the impeachment managers will be, for example, or whether GOP senators will bother pushing a “motion to dismiss” — but it’s also worth pausing to consider what Pelosi has to show for her efforts.









