Pelosi promises impeachment articles to Senate on Wednesday

U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (White House photo)

In what many Trump supporters view as an act of surrender, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday she finally will forward the two articles of impeachment against the president to the Senate on Wednesday.

She's been holding the articles for nearly a month in an effort to extract concessions from the Senate to ensure a "fair trial."

But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn't budged, arguing the Constitution gives no authority to the House regarding a Senate trial. And he and his Republican colleagues have contended Pelosi didn't allow a fair trial in the House, preventing the Republicans from calling their own witnesses and holding a day of hearings.

The House will vote Wednesday to appoint a list of members who will serve as impeachment managers in the trial.

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"The American people deserve the truth, and the Constitution demands a trial, Pelosi said. "The House will now proceed with a vote on transmitting the articles of impeachment and naming impeachment managers on Wednesday, Jan. 15. The president and the senators will be held accountable."

A simple 51-vote majority could dismiss the House allegations against the president, but that appears less likely now, The Hill reported.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the Republican majority, with 53 seats, doesn't have enough votes for an outright dismissal.

But some Republican senators who would like to expose the origins of the Democrats' impeachment drive and exonerate the president insist on a trial. They're seeking testimony from Joe Biden and his son Hunter, among others, regarding the issue at the center of the impeachment complaint: Hunter's profiting from a corrupt Ukrainian company while his father was Obama's pointman for Ukraine policy.

Blunt said his colleagues "generally are not interested in a motion to dismiss."

"Certainly there aren't 51 votes for a motion to dismiss," he said.

Pelosi has pressed for Trump administration witnesses such as former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

But Republicans argue House Democrats never subpoenaed Bolton to testify in their hearings.

McConnell wants to employ the rules used in the trial of Bill Clinton 20 years ago and decide on witnesses after the process begins.

The majority leader has described Pelosi's demands as "bizarro world."