The chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence criticized House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday for refusing to transmit two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate, as required by the Constitution.
“I think her position is really untenable,” Marc Short said during an appearance on “.”
“The reality is that she said in the House that this president poses such a grave danger to the globe that we have to trample on his constitutional rights, not allow us to have any witnesses in front of the Intelligence Committee, not allow us to have counsel present, now allow us to provide evidence in our own defense,” he continued.
“We’re quite confident that the position is untenable, and she’s going to move it along, and that Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell reach a deal on how it’s going to proceed in the Senate,” Short added.
“There’s no way she can hold this position.”
After Democrats in the House voted to impeach the president for alleged abuse of power and obstructing Congress on Wednesday, Pelosi said the following day that actually transmitting the articles to the Senate had never been “part of the conversation.”
She also claimed she is holding onto the articles until she is sure there will be a “fair trial” in the upper chamber.
Critics noted that it’s not Pelosi’s place to make the rules for the impeachment trial, noting that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has that responsibility.
Reports over the weekend said that McConnell was negotiating with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) over the rules, but no progress had been made.
Some scholars have said that Trump does not actually stand as being impeached yet because the process of transmitting the articles to the Senate has not been completed.