Nancy Pelosi refuses to rule out using impeachment as a way to tie up the Senate floor as she accuses Donald Trump of using Supreme Court vacancy to try to 'crush the Affordable Care Act'

 

• 'We have arrows in our quiver that I'm not about to discuss right now'
• If the House passes an impeachment resolution it would be privileged and go to the Senate floor
• President Trump said he will nominate a successor for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg this week
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell  says the nominee will get a vote but has not said it would be before the election 
• Some Democrats have been calling to impeach Attorney General Bill Barr
• Democrats narrowly focused their impeachment articles against Trump beginning last year around Ukraine 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday refused to rule out pushing forward a privileged impeachment resolution that would have the effect of eating up Senate floor time and potentially stalling a Supreme Court nomination. 

'We have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that I'm not about to discuss right now but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country,' she told ABC's 'This Week' when asked about the prospect.

'This president has threatened to not even accept the results of the election," Pelosi continued. "Our main goal would be to protect the integrity of the election as we protect the people from the coronavirus." 

Host George Stephanopoulos had asked the speaker about impeaching either Trump or Attorney General Bill Barr as part of a strategy to slow the nomination, with Senate Democrats holding little leverage to act on their own, and President Donald Trump saying he will nominate a successor to Ruth Bader Ginsburg this week following Ginsburg's death Friday.

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'We have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that I'm not about to discuss right now but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country,' said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was asked if she might use impeachment as a tactic to slow a Supreme Court nomination

Pelosi said the vacancy would galvanize supporters, and told Americans: 'You can vote, you can get out the vote.'

She repeated her veiled threat when Stephanopoulos asked her: 'But to be clear, you’re not taking any arrows out of your quiver, you’re not ruling anything out?'

'Good morning. Sunday morning,' she responded, smiling. 'We have a responsibility, we take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.'

'We have a responsibility to meet the needs of the American people. When we weigh the equities, protecting our democracy requires us to use every arrow in our quiver,' Pelosi said.

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President Trump has said he will nominate a Supreme Court justice this week

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Pelosi was asked about whether the House might impeach Trump or Attorney General Bill Barr, which would take up Senate floor time

She appeared less inclined to hint at her options when asked about another potential Democratic pressure point: threatening to expand the size of the court should they capture the Senate in November and Republicans push through a conservative successor to Ginsburg.

'Well let’s just win the election. Let’s hope that the president will see the light,' Pelosi said.

Pelosi began her remarks stressing the coronavirus and saying Trump planned to use the vacancy to undo the Affordable Care Act – as both parties use the vacancy to try to fire up their supporters.

'She would want us to keep our eye on the ball of the 200,000 people who, probably this weekend would sadly reach that number,' she said of Ginsburg and the growing coronavirus death count.

'The president is rushing to make some kind of a decision because November 10 is when the oral arguments begin on the Affordable Care Act,’ she said.

‘He doesn’t want to crush the virus, he wants to crush the Affordable Care Act.'

According to a Congressional Research Service report from January 2020 amid Trump's impeachment, after the House transmits an impeachment message and managers, 'The time agreed upon in modern trials has been within a day or two of receipt of the House message.'

'Impeachment Rule III provides that after the articles are presented by the House managers, the Senate will proceed to consider the articles at 1 o’clock the next day (unless the next day is a Sunday), or sooner if ordered by the Senate,' it notes.