McConnell Decries Democrats’ Impeachment Dealings with ‘No Haggling’ Line

Any minute now, we as Americans may get to see the continuation of the already-lengthy impeachment of Donald J. Trump.  That is, is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can get their ducks in a row.

Pelosi is withholding the articles of impeachment themselves as her Senate colleagues attempt to coerce McConnell into allowing witnesses at the coming impeachment trial.  McConnell has so far refused, reiterating time and again that the Senate is not the place for fact-finding…that was the House’s job.

The Bluegrass State Senator again exemplified this stance today.

“There will be no haggling with the House over Senate procedure,” said McConnell, R-Ky. “We will not cede our authority to try this impeachment. The House Democrats’ turn is over.”

But even as McConnell spoke from the Senate floor, Pelosi, D-Calif., was giving no indication of her plans. In a closed-door meeting with the House Democratic caucus, she spoke instead about the crisis in the Middle East, with Iran’s retaliatory ballistic missile attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, according to several Democrats in the room.

Pelosi wants McConnell to “immediately” make public the details of his trial proposal, according to a letter to colleagues. She wants to see how much time will be devoted to the trial, and other details before she announces her choice of House managers to try the case in the Senate, according to Democrats familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it.

“Sadly, Leader McConnell has made clear that his loyalty is to the President and not the Constitution,” Pelosi wrote to colleagues late Tuesday. She said the process he is outlining “is not only unfair but designed to deprive Senators and the American people of crucial documents and testimony.″

The recent revelation that former national security adviser John Bolton would be willing to testify in front of Congress, if he were to face a subpoena, has made McConnell’s view on the subject a bit more difficult to defend.