Hamline University analyst David Schultz says, don’t expect any movement toward an impeachment trial of President Trump for at least several weeks, as the House speaker and Senate majority leader play a “significant game of political poker.” Schultz says apparently there’s nothing that requires the House send impeachment articles to the Senate, or that the Senate have a trial. “Manners of impeachment and the trial are not reviewable by the Supreme Court or by the federal courts, so nothing can force them to do the referral or to hold the trial,” he says.
Before sending the Trump impeachment articles to the Senate, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants assurances of a fair trial — something Senate leaders reportedly are not willing to guarantee.
Schultz says as far as the president is concerned, “On the one hand he wants to have… a quick trial, the acquittal and to go on the campaign stump and say he’s been acquitted. On the other hand, the longer this potentially drags out, maybe it does energize his base.”