House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she has a “spring” in her step after House Democrats voted to impeach President Donald Trump in a partisan vote.
“It really is interesting to see the response that we are getting, bipartisan, across party lines,” Pelosi told reporters during a Capitol Hill press conference. “I, myself, want to say I have a spring in my step because of the moral courage of our caucus.”
Pelosi’s comments came as she declined to confirm when she will send the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The California Democrat said she is waiting to see what procedures will be adopted for the Senate trial.
Her remarks echo her own comments made Wednesday evening, when she was noncommittal on transmitting the impeachment articles, citing claims that Senate Republicans are unlikely to conduct a so-called “fair” trial, a term which House Democrats have thrown around in recent days.
“We’ll make that decision as a group, as we always have, as we go along,” she told reporters after last night’s vote. “So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us.”
Prior to Pelosi’s press conference, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) denounced the impeachment vote and blasted the speaker for being “too afraid” to send “their shoddy work product to the Senate.”
“The framers built the Senate to provide stability,” McConnell said in a Senate floor speech. “To keep partisan passions from boiling over. Moments like this are why the United States Senate exists.”
The Kentucky Republican will meet later today with his counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), to establish the parameters for the upper chamber’s trial.
Earlier Thursday, President Trump took aim at Pelosi for not sending the impeachment articles to the Senate right away.
“The Senate shall set the time and place of the trial.” If the Do Nothing Democrats decide, in their great wisdom, not to show up, they would lose by Default!” the president tweeted: