In private, many Democrats have called Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's (D., Calif.) decision to withhold articles of impeachment from the Senate a "failed strategy," according to a Washington Post reporter.

ABC's This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday asked WaPo reporter Rachel Bade about Pelosi's claim, earlier in the show, that there was benefit to keeping the impeachment articles from going to the Senate.

"She was clearly putting a positive spin on what a lot of Democrats have privately said was a failed strategy," Bade said.

Bade added that Pelosi has not won anything from the gambit. Pelosi announced Saturday that the articles will be sent to the Senate this week, with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) unmoved by her procedural demands.

"She and Chuck Schumer, the minority leader in the Senate, set out to number one try to get a commitment from McConnell on first-hand witnesses, to have them testify in the Senate trial," Bade said. "She also said she wanted to see a resolution about how the whole proceedings would be governed. She got neither of those."

Pelosi's strategy began to fail earlier this week, when members of her caucus and Senate Democrats called for the articles of impeachment to be transferred to the Senate as soon as possible.