Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) declared herself “sad” as she used more than a dozen commemorative pens to sign the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Wednesday evening.
The occasion was “so sad, so tragic for our country,” Pelosi told reporters, noting the “difficult time in our country’s history.” She then approached a table that had been prepared with the documents, and two dishes full of pens for her to use — about half a dozen pens in each.
Pelosi then sat and signed the articles, one for “abuse of power” and one for “obstruction of Congress.” She applied each pen, paused every few seconds, switched pens, and then continued.
The two dishes were swapped out and replaced with two new ones after the first article of impeachment had been signed — presumably, different pens for different articles.
Despite pronouncing herself “sad,” Pelosi smiled throughout the signing.
She then handed out the pens to leaders of the Democratic Party caucus in the House, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), and others.
House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., holds up a pen presented to her by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., after she signed the resolution to transmit the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. At left, is House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., right. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
She also posed for smiling photographs with the pens.
It is unclear if the ceremony had any actual meaning, or whether it was merely a pantomime for the media. Eric Wasson of Bloomberg News reported that the Senate would not actually receive the articles until Thursday.
Update: The White House responded, mocking Pelosi for “souvenir pens served up on silver platters”:
Pelosi and her party insisted on rushing impeachment through the House — even declining to call key witnesses, or to pursue them through the courts — because they insisted that it was urgent the president be removed from office to prevent him from soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 election.
They then refused to deliver the articles of impeachment to the Senate for four weeks as they attempted to exert pressure on Republicans to adopt their terms for a trial, without success.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.