[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 7, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S39-S40]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Impeachment

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, many of us here in the Senate thought we 
would be opening the new year with an impeachment trial, but that is 
not what is happening this week because the Senate is still waiting--
waiting for Speaker Pelosi to actually send over the Articles of 
Impeachment.
  Democrats rushed impeachment through the House, throwing fairness and 
due process to the winds in their haste to impeach the President, but 
now they are apparently content to just sit on the Articles of 
Impeachment for the foreseeable future. If Democrats really believe 
that this impeachment is a serious matter, that there is literally a 
crime spree in progress, as they have claimed, they would have already 
sent over the articles. The truth is, Democrats' impeachment efforts, 
which basically started before the President had even taken the oath of 
office, have been politically motivated from the start. Democrats 
thought they could damage the President politically by rushing to 
impeach him, and now they think they can damage the President 
politically by stalling a trial.
  Speaker Pelosi is also attempting to force the Senate to conduct the 
trial she would like it to conduct in hopes of getting the outcome she 
would prefer--demonstrating once again the fundamentally political 
nature of the Democrats' impeachment quest. Here in the Senate, we will 
continue working on the business of governing until

[[Page S40]]

the Speaker decides she is ready to stop playing games.