House Democratic Chief Deputy Whip Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) expressed support for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) tactic to delay sending articles of impeachment to the Senate.
Kildee told CNN on Thursday that Pelosi is “making the right decision” before claiming that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) “needs to stop playing games” so the House can “move forward.”
Kildee then echoed a claim from a member of his caucus in saying that McConnell has to “conduct a trial in an open and dignified and fair fashion.”
Meanwhile, Congress is on its Christmas break, he noted in the CNN interview, adding that “this trial wasn’t going to take place until some time in January anyway. We have time to get it right. I’m one that I don’t think we should wait forever.”
“But the onus, really, the responsibility lies with Senator McConnell to stop being so obtuse and get about the business of organizing this trial, sit down with Senator [Chuck] Schumer, come to some agreement and move forward,” he said.
Some Democrats, including House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), suggested that articles of impeachment might be placed on hold indefinitely.
“Because we don’t know whether we should send two managers or 22 managers,” he said. “If we knew what the process was, we would know what to do. We do not have a process.”
“It looks very good to me and to my constituents. What Nancy Pelosi’s doing is demonstrating once again that we are a country of laws, not of men or women. And in this instance, one man.”
McConnell and Schumer (D-N.Y.) are at odds about whether the trial in the Senate should include witnesses, although McConnell has stated his caucus hasn’t yet ruled out the possibility.
