House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stands with House managers prior to signing the two articles of impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump during an engrossment ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, January 15, 2020.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump that the House of Representatives passed last month were officially transmitted to the Senate on Wednesday, paving the way for a trial to begin as early as next week.
Before the articles made their way across the U.S. Capitol building to the Senate chamber, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., signed a resolution that allowed her to officially designate the House members who will serve as managers of the impeachment trial.
The resolution also allowed the House to appropriate funds for the trial itself.
Let it be “very clear,” Pelosi said before signing the document, “that this president will be held accountable.”
The resolution passed the House nearly along party lines in a 228-193 vote earlier Wednesday. No Republicans voted for it.
House Democrats voted Dec. 18 to impeach Trump on articles — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — related to his efforts to have Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announce probes involving former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, as well as a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he thinks the impeachment trial could begin as soon as Tuesday.
He and other Republicans received the articles in the Senate chamber.
“I’m confident that this body can rise above short term-ism and factional fever, and serve the long-term best interests of our nation,” McConnell said on the Senate floor when once the articles were brought over.
Earlier Wednesday, Pelosi unveiled the seven House Democrats who will serve as impeachment managers in the trial in the Senate.
House managers will essentially act as prosecutors in the Senate trial, laying out the evidence that House investigators have collected and making their case that the senators should vote Trump out of office, while Trump’s team of lawyers defends him.
The 100 senators, in turn, will act as jurors as they consider how they will vote on the two articles of impeachment against Trump that the House passed last month. It is highly unlikely that two-thirds of the GOP-majority Senate will vote to convict a Republican president and remove him from office. No Senate Republicans have said they will vote to convict.
Trump is just the third U.S. president ever to be impeached. He has denied any wrongdoing.
