Omar demands McConnell start trial, but Pelosi hasn't sent impeachment articles to the Senate

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The Politics and Law of Trump's Second Impeachment

Paul Gigot interviews former Attorney General Michael Mukasey

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., urged Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to "do [his] job and start the impeachment trial" after the Republican senate leader condemned President Trump Tuesday. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi still has not sent the impeachment articles to the Senate, and without them, there can be no trial. 

Rep. Omar was responding to McConnell's comments on the Senate floor Tuesday, which was the first day the Senate reconvened following the violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. 

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"The mob was fed lies," McConnell said Tuesday. "They were provoked by the president and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like."

Omar joined every House Democrat and ten House Republicans in voting to impeach President Trump last Wednesday.

"The President not only incited an insurrection against our government but has, in word and deed, led a rebellion," Omar said on the House floor last Wednesday. "We must impeach and remove this President from office immediately so that he cannot threaten our democracy and the world any longer or hold public office ever again."

Speaker Pelosi has been opaque about when she'll send the impeachment articles to the upper chamber, saying Tuesday when asked about the timing, "We're doing the inauguration now."

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She told reporters Friday that they'll "be the first to know when we announce that we're going over there."

Speaker Pelosi's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

A spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that the Democratic Senate leader met with McConnell Tuesday about "conducting a fair impeachment trial." 

Though President Trump is leaving office this week, a conviction by the Senate would open the door for a vote to bar him from ever running for office again, so the stakes are still high. 

But a conviction would require 17 Republican Senators to defect, assuming that all 50 Democratic Senators vote to convict. 

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At least two Republicans -- Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski and Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey -- have said they think President Trump committed impeachable offenses, though they are undecided on whether to vote to convict. And other Republicans have said they will weigh the evidence. 

Many of the President's top allies in the Senate have slammed this second impeachment attempt. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told Fox News it was "blatantly unconstitutional" and has urged Schumer to hold a vote to dismiss "the article of impeachment once it is received in the Senate."