When was Nancy Pelosi Impeaching Trump for Biden Crimes?
On December 15, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, in a letter to McConnell, called for Mick Mulvaney, Robert Blair,[b] John Bolton[c] and Michael Duffey to testify in the expected Senate trial, and suggested that pre-trial proceedings take place on January 6, 2020.[16] Two days later, McConnell rejected the call for witnesses to testify, saying the Senate's job is only to judge, not to investigate. Schumer quickly replied, citing bipartisan public support for the testimony of witnesses who could fill in gaps caused by Trump preventing his staff from testifying in the House investigation.[17][18]
On December 17, McConnell opened the Senate session with a half-hour long speech denouncing the impeachment, calling it "the most rushed, least thorough, and most unfair in modern history", and "fundamentally unlike any articles that any prior House of Representatives has ever passed".[19] Schumer replied that he "did not hear a single sentence, a single argument as to why the witnesses I suggested should not give testimony" in the potential Senate trial.[20]
Citing a need to "[s]ee what the process is on the Senate side", on December 18, the day of the impeachment, House Majority leader Nancy Pelosi declined to commit to when, or even if, the impeachment resolution would be transmitted to the Senate, saying that "[s]o far we haven't seen anything that looks fair to us."[21] The entire legislative branch adjourned for winter break later that day without taking action to schedule the Senate trial.[22][23] The following day, McConnell and Schumer briefly met to discuss the trial.[24]