Some House Democrats push bid to force delay in Senate trial

Object of effort is to force Republicans to adjust rules.

WASHINGTON — A group of House Democrats are pushing Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leaders to withhold the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, potentially delaying a Senate trial for months.

Pelosi said after Wednesday’s votes that she would consider such a move.

The notion of impeaching Trump but holding the articles in the House has gained traction among some of the political left as a way of potentially forcing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to conduct a trial on more favorable terms for Democrats. And if no agreement is reached, some have argued, the trial could be delayed indefinitely, denying Trump an expected acquittal.

The gambit has gained some traction inside the left wing of the House Democratic Caucus this week. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said Wednesday, as his colleagues debated the impeachment articles on the House floor, that he has spoken to three dozen Democratic lawmakers who had expressed some level of enthusiasm for the idea of “rounding out the record and spending the time to do this right.”

“At a minimum, there ought to be an agreement about access to witnesses, rules of the game, timing,” Blumenauer said of a Senate trial.

Republicans have scoffed at the notion of the House withholding the articles, noting it hardly counts as leverage to deny the GOP the ability to remove a president that the party wants to keep in place. Some aides further argued that withholding the articles would only fuel Republican arguments that Democrats are engaged in a partisan abuse of the Constitution.

A spokesman for McConnell, Doug Andres, declined to comment.

Democrats will be dealing with the issue soon. Blumenauer said he had already raised the issue with Pelosi, D-Calif., House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and other top party leaders.

A senior Democratic aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations said the impeachment articles will not be immediately transmitted to the Senate. Rather, they will be held until Pelosi names impeachment managers, the House members who will present the case for Trump’s removal in the Senate.