Meanwhile, Senate approves first of two measures to avert a government shutdown

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are signaling that it’s only a matter of time before the House sends the articles of impeachment to the Senate — but they want Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to cut a deal first on the rules of the trial.

This is what the process looks like:

Pelosi was careful today not to say at her news conference that Democrats must get a “fair” trial before transmitting the articles. That’s a different tone than yesterday night when Pelosi suggested that they needed to have a fair trial before deciding whether and if to submit the articles.

Pelosi said today that she wanted to see how the Senate planned to set up the trial before sending articles because the makeup of the trial could dictate the managers she appoints.

“The next thing for us will be when we see the process that is set forth in the Senate, then we’ll know the number of managers that we may have to go forward and who we will choose. That’s what I said last night, that’s what I’m saying now,” Pelosi said. 

But when CNN asked if there needed to be what Democrats consider a “fair” trial, she didn’t explicitly say. “Well we’d like to see a fair process, but we’ll see what they have, and we’ll be ready for whatever it is,” Pelosi said.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler also told CNN that “I would doubt” the House holds onto the articles forever, saying they would be submitted in “due course.”