Last month, the House of Representatives voted for only the third time in history to impeach the president. Then something else unusual happened:
Nothing.
President Trump, members of Congress, much of Washington and millions of Americans effectively pushed pause on a once-in-a-generation political saga to take off for the holidays.
So for those just tuning back in for the first full workweek of 2020, nothing substantive has changed in the story — but that also means the coming month may churn into a whirlwind.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., still must transmit the articles of impeachment adopted on Dec. 18 to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
And Pelosi also must announce which lawmakers will cross over to the other side of the Capitol and make the case against Trump as “impeachment managers” before a jury comprising the 100 members of the Senate.
But the speaker has said she won’t send McConnell the articles or name managers until she’s confident about the nature of the process that will take place in the Senate, which is itself still subject to negotiations between McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The White House also has yet to name a team of attorneys to defend Trump.