Andrew McCarthy: I thought Pelosi’s latest impeachment move was a joke, but it’s not – I still have to laugh
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}I’ll confess: Wednesday night, when I was first told that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was toying with the idea of not delivering the two articles of impeachment voted by the House against President Trump, I assumed it was a joke.
For these last weeks, the Democrat-dominated chamber has been in a mad rush to impeach the president. Democrats even tacked on article two — “obstruction of Congress” — because, they told us, time could not be wasted engaging in the usual negotiation and litigation over legislative demands for executive branch information.
Trump is a clear and present threat to “continue” undermining our elections, we were admonished. That’s why he needs to be impeached right now. That’s why the political class cannot responsibly leave his fate up to the sovereign, the People, who will vote in November.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GIANCARLO CANAPARO: PELOSI POWERLESS TO DELAY TRUMP IMPEACHMENT TRIAL IF SENATE DOES THIS
But now that the deed is done, it’s… hey, not so fast.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Pelosi and Democratic leadership have convinced themselves there may be an advantage in delaying the formal, ministerial delivery of the impeachment articles — as if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were in as much a hurry to receive them as Democrats were to conjure them up.
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The thought is that this latest strategic petulance might pressure Senator McConnell into promising a full-blown trial, including summoning as witnesses top aides of the president whom the House didn’t bother to summon because tangling over privilege issues would have slowed up the works.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}So it’s not a joke, but I still have to laugh. When I was a prosecutor negotiating plea deals, I always found the most pathetic defense lawyers were the ones who acted like they were playing with the house money when, in stark reality, it was they who needed something from me. Now here’s Pelosi trying to play hard to get with McConnell who, I imagine, couldn’t care less how long Democrats want to dither.
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