Impeachment trial plunges Washington into political standoff

Washington was plunged into a political standoff over the terms of the forthcoming impeachment trial in the Senate, a day after President Donald Trump became the third US president to be impeached in a historic vote.

The House of Representatives on Wednesday charged Mr Trump with two articles of impeachment over his dealings with Ukraine, paving the way for a Senate trial.

But in a sign of the political battle ahead, House speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested that she could delay transferring the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber if it did not guarantee a fair process.

Speaking yesterday, she said the House would act “when we see the process in the Senate”.

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But Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said Democrats were "too afraid to even transmit their shoddy work product to the Senate" and were getting "cold feet," a sentiment echoed by Mr Trump later in the White House when he accused Democrats of "playing games"  and breach of the constitution. Technically, there are no specific rules in the Constitution stipulating when the articles should be transferred.

Last night, the House broke for the Christmas break after endorsing a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, but without voting on a key resolution to allow the impeachment process to move to the Senate. This means the impeachment articles will not go to the Senate until January.

Mr McConnell, who as the top Republican senator will have significant control of how the trial is conducted, launched a scathing attack on Democrats yesterday deeming the Trump impeachment as the “most unfair in modern history.”

“The House’s vote yesterday was not some neutral judgment that Democrats came to with great reluctance, it was the predetermined end to a partisan crusade that began before President Trump was even nominated, let alone sworn in.”

Ms Pelosi retorted that America’s founding fathers “suspected there could be a rogue president. I don’t think they suspected there would be a rogue president and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time.”

Mr McConnell and Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, also met yesterday to discuss the terms of the Senate trial which is still expected to start in January. With the constitution demanding a two-thirds majority in the Senate to convict Mr Trump of impeachment, the president is unlikely to be removed from office as Republicans control 53 seats in the 100-member chamber.

Mr Trump, who denounced the impeachment as a "hoax" and a "set-up" yesterday was criticised for disparaging comments he made at his campaign rally in Michigan on Wednesday about the late husband of congresswoman Debbie Dingell. Asked about his comments, Ms Pelosi replied: "What the president misunderstands is that cruelty is not wit . . . It's not funny at all. It's very sad."