In recent weeks, some legal scholars have suggested Speaker Nancy Pelosi could consider refusing to transmit the articles of impeachment that passed the House on Wednesday to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has declared he is coordinating trial strategy with the White House.

Though the request initially seemed to have little currency on Capitol Hill, it gained momentum in recent days as McConnell has continued to make clear he has little interest in serving as an impartial overseer of the Senate trial.

Hoyer said Democratic colleagues have approached him in recent days, citing an op-ed by constitutional lawyer Laurence Tribe in which he calls on Democrats to delay sending impeachment articles to the Senate until McConnell agrees to run a fairer process.

“Under the current circumstances, such a proceeding would fail to render a meaningful verdict of acquittal,” Tribe wrote. Notably, House Judiciary Committee Democrats huddled with Tribe earlier this month as they practiced behind closed doors for their series of impeachment hearings.

Pelosi’s remarks, which were barely audible above the clatter of camera shutters, were so unexpected that they prompted reporters to shout over each other, interrupting the speaker at times and generating confusion about the next steps in the impeachment process.

“So you may not send them?” one reporter interjected, to which Pelosi responded: “You’re asking me, ‘So are we all going to go out and play in the snow?’ That has not been part of our conversations.”

The last-minute twist was a stunning coda to the monthslong House impeachment process that had been meticulously choreographed by Pelosi and other senior Democrats. After the news conference, Pelosi huddled with top committee chairs leading Trump-focused investigations, and they emerged with a consistent message: The only story that matters is the president has been impeached.

“The only thing that matters is the president of the United States was impeached today,” said Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.). As for the Senate? “One step at a time,” she said.

“We defended the Constitution and we defended our democracy,” said Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.). “Right now, that’s the story,” he said.

Some Democrats said they became convinced a delay in transmitting articles was under consideration when House leaders decided against naming impeachment managers — the set of lawmakers who would argue their case on the Senate floor — until an undetermined later date.

When President Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998, House leaders identified their impeachment managers the same day. But Pelosi instead will be empowered to pick managers at her discretion and without a deadline.

“The rule will allow the speaker to name managers at any point after the articles pass,” a senior House Democratic aide said, noting that the House needs to name managers in order to transmit the articles to the Senate.



Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said he's approached every member of House leadership about the idea and received responses ranging from interest to outright support. He said Pelosi, in particular, “indicated she was interested and considering it.”

“As long as we have the articles of impeachment under our control, we have an opportunity to prevent a travesty,” Blumenauer said.

Blumenauer argued that the House could use the delay to continue to build on its evidence for impeachment, and possibly to score additional legal victories that could unlock troves of new evidence and witness testimony that the Trump administration has withheld from Congress. Some of those court cases could be decided within weeks.

“You can continue to build the record, you can get information and you argue for fairness and don't surrender until it’s clear that that is in the best interest of the process,” Blumenauer said.

In his remarks to reporters, Hoyer emphasized that early discussions about the timing of transmitting articles of impeachment to the Senate are “not in the context” of Tribe’s proposal. But he said colleagues keep raising it.

“People have read that article, discussed it. People have come up to me, discussed it,” he said, adding, “We will talk about it in some point in time. It’s within the speaker’s purview, obviously, she’ll make that decision. And I also think she’ll do it in discussions with McConnell and [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer.”

Marianne Levine contributed to this report.