The speaker called the impeachment of President Trump “urgent,” but did not send the charge to the Senate to prompt the start of a trial, nor commit to when she would do so.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that House impeachment managers were preparing to prosecute President Trump in the Senate, but she refused to offer a timeline for when they would move forward with a never-before-attempted trial of a former president. At a news conference two days after the House impeached Mr. Trump in a bipartisan vote, Ms. Pelosi made clear that her first priority was ensuring the security of the Capitol and lawmakers before President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on Wednesday. But growing emotional at times as she recounted seeing the image of a rioter barging through the Capitol in a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt, Ms. Pelosi vowed accountability would soon follow for Mr. Trump, whom the House charged with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in egging on a violent mob that stormed the building. She also pledged to pursue the perpetrators of the rampage as well as far-right lawmakers if they were found to have aided in the assault. “One week ago, on Jan.6, there was an act of insurrection perpetrated on the Capitol of the United States, incentivized by the president of the United States,” she said. “One week later, Wednesday to Wednesday, that president was impeached in a bipartisan way by the House of Representatives — so urgent was the matter. They are now working on taking this to trial.” The speaker’s decision to delay sending the article was reminiscent of a similar maneuver a year ago, when she waited almost a month to press charges against Mr. Trump after the House voted to impeach him the first time for pressuring Ukraine to smear Mr. Biden. This time, though, Democrats in both chambers involved in the impeachment case said they expected the delay to be brief. Ms. Pelosi could transmit the article as soon as Monday, they said, prompting the start of a trial just as power is being transferred to Mr. Biden. The House was waiting, at least in part, to determine the outcome of negotiations between Senate Democrats and Republicans over the shape of a highly unusual proceeding. On the cusp of taking unified control of Washington, Democrats were working to draft rules that would allow the Senate to operate on dual tracks to confirm Mr. Biden’s cabinet and begin moving his legislative agenda while trying Mr. Trump. Unlike a year ago when he sought to use the trial rules to undercut the prosecution, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, who is said to approve of the impeachment drive, appeared more willing to work in concert with Democrats.
