House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn suggested Thursday that House Democrats may never send the articles of impeachment to the Senate to allow it to begin President Donald Trump's trial, and he said he's willing to wait "as long as it takes" to be sure the proceedings don't become a "kangaroo court."
“If it were me, yes, that's what I'm saying," the South Carolina Democrat told CNN's John Berman, after the "New Day" anchor asked him if he was suggesting that it is possible the articles might not be transferred.
"In fact, I was one of the ones arguing that this ought to be the case," said Clyburn. "Until we can get some assurances from the leader (Sen. Mitch McConnell) that he is going to allow for a fair and impartial trial to take place, we will be crazy to walk in there knowing he set up a kangaroo court."
However, Clyburn said he has "no idea" when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said Wednesday she'll hold onto the charges until she is sure there will be a fair trial in the GOP-controlled Senate, will agree to move the articles forward.
Pelosi on Wednesday, just minutes after the House voted in a strongly partisan measure to impeach Trump, refused to say when or if she would forward the charges against him to the Senate for a trial, or name impeachment managers until Republicans there set what Democrats would consider fair terms for a trial."
“The delay is made necessary because the majority leader of the Senate has made it very clear that he’s not going to be impartial, he’s not going to be fair, he will collude, if you please, with the White House — at least the White House’s attorneys — to decide how he will go forward," Clyburn told CNN. "Why would the Speaker of the House step into that without trying to determine exactly what the majority leader plans to do?”
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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