The House of Representatives will submit articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on Tuesday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) later confirmed the planned timing.
The caucus met in the morning about the timing of the submission.
“The speaker indicated with the full consent of the caucus that those articles of impeachment will be transmitted to the Senate at some point tomorrow,” Jeffries told reporters in Washington at a House Democrat leadership press conference, referring to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
The House managers, or the representatives of the House who will present the prosecution’s case, will also be appointed tomorrow, Jeffries said.
House Democratic Chief Deputy Whip Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) told reporters just before the press conference that Pelosi was in charge of appointing the House managers.
“I think we have a general idea of who they are going to be … but we’ll leave that to Speaker Pelosi to do that tomorrow,” he said.
Pelosi later added in a statement that “the American people deserve the truth, and the Constitution demands a trial.”
“The House will now proceed with a vote on transmitting the articles of impeachment and naming impeachment managers on Wednesday, January 15,” she added. “The President and the Senators will be held accountable.”
House Republican leaders said in a press conference earlier Tuesday that Democrats rushed through the impeachment inquiry only to see Pelosi implement a delay by withholding the impeachment articles.
It was “unclear what exactly she believes she accomplished by it,” Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) told reporters.
“Important pieces of work, like, for example, USMCA, will not be taken up because the Senate will now be focused on the impeachment trial,” she added.
Chief Deputy Whip Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) said Americans “are trying to live their lives” and are concerned about issues outside of impeachment.
“They are hungry to see us do something important like get USMCA finalized,” he said. The real cost of impeachment, he said, is the delay of the trade deal.
Trump has called for the GOP-held Senate to dismiss the impeachment articles, but Senate Republican leaders said on Monday that there weren’t enough votes for the move.
“Many believe that by the Senate giving credence to a trial based on the no evidence, no crime, read the transcripts, ‘no pressure’ Impeachment Hoax, rather than an outright dismissal, it gives the partisan Democrat Witch Hunt credibility that it otherwise does not have,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “I agree!”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have grappled over trial guidelines, with McConnell seemingly winning out by getting the majority votes necessary to start the trial without voting on whether to call witnesses.
Citing the guidelines approved by the Senate for the 1999 trial of President Bill Clinton, McConnell said a vote on witnesses would come after the House managers and Trump’s team presented their cases to the Senate, which acts as a jury. McConnell said later Tuesday that the Senate trial would likely start on Jan. 21.
A Senate impeachment trial is triggered by a House vote. While the House requires a simple majority to approve articles of impeachment, the Senate requires a supermajority to convict a president, or remove him from office. On the other hand, only a simple majority is needed to dismiss the articles.
No president in history has been removed from office.
