She may have had a somber tone as House Democrats were impeaching President Trump — even shooting members an icy glare when they clapped as the first article was passed — but a day later Speaker Nancy Pelosi had a “spring in her step.”
The California Democrat on Thursday gloated that Trump had been “held accountable for his reckless behavior,” even as she refused to answer reporters’ questions about what will happen next.
“We’ve been hearing from people all over the country since last night and this morning,” Pelosi said during her weekly address — describing the vote as being carried out “so prayerfully and so solemnly but so definitely.”
“It seems like people have a spring in their step because the president was held accountable for his reckless behavior. No one is above the law and the Constitution is the ultimate law of the land,” she said.
“I have a spring in my step because of the moral courage of our caucus,” she added.
The historic vote sets up a showdown in the GOP-lead Senate where Republicans have vowed to acquit President Trump at a Senate trial on the two articles of impeachment.
Pelosi said she was hoping for a “fair process” in the Senate but didn’t express high hopes in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — bashing him as “the grim reaper.”
“Our founders, when they wrote the Constitution they suspected there could be a rogue president. I don’t think they suspected we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time,” she said.
With Trump now officially the third president in US history to be impeached, the speaker was eager to move on to other topics, touting Democrats’ work on the US-Mexico trade agreement.
But Pelosi hinted there were internal grumblings within the Democratic Party over the impeachment circus.
“Right now as we speak, they’re debating on the floor the US Mexico trade agreement. I heard my colleagues last night say, ‘If we weren’t doing this, we could do Mexico.’ Well, we are doing Mexico,” she said.
The Californian lawmaker also became testy when reporters only wanted to ask about the historic impeachment vote.
Asked if seeing a fair process in the Senate was a requirement for her to move the articles on to the other chamber, she referred back to comments made earlier Thursday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying his comments “reminded me that our founders, when they wrote the Constitution they suspected there could be a rogue president. I don’t think they suspected we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time.”
When a reporter followed with, “To that end, you’re criticizing McConnell today …” she lost it.
“Any other questions on any other things? Anyone want to talk about the Mexico free trade agreement? Anybody care about that? Jobs for the American people? Progress in addressing globalism and the issues? Any other questions because I’m not going to answer any more questions on this,” a testy Pelosi groused. “Clearly do you understand, when we see what that process is we will know who and how many we want to send over. I’m not going to go there anymore.
It’s unclear when the House will pass the impeachment charges to the Senate, Democrats waiting for the Senate to set their rules.
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