Trump Lawyers Wonder If He Has Really Been Impeached

After voting to impeach President Trump on Wednesday, the House went into recess Thursday, leaving the process in limbo until Jan. 7—and giving constitutional experts plenty of time to argue the finer points. Bloomberg reports that lawyers close to the president are looking at whether Trump hasn't really been impeached because Nancy Pelosi hasn't appointed impeachment managers and sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate so the trial can begin. Harvard professor Noah Feldman argues that if the House fails to "communicate its impeachment to the Senate, it hasn't actually impeached the president." Fellow Harvard professor Laurence Tribe, however, says it's "up to the House when and how to prosecute its case in the Senate."

Pelosi has said Democrats are considering delaying sending the articles to the Senate out of concerns the constitutionally required trial will be unfair. On Thursday, Trump called impeachment a "phony deal," the Washington Post reports. "The reason the Democrats don't want to submit the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate is that they don't want corrupt politician Adam Shifty Schiff to testify under oath, nor do they want the Whistleblower, the missing second Whistleblower, the informer, the Bidens, to testify!" he tweeted. Sources tell Politico that although Trump is going along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's plan for a short trial without witnesses, he privately wants to be exonerated in "a flashy, testimony-filled trial." (McConnell says the "moment the framers feared has arrived.")