Pelosi expected to send articles of impeachment to Senate next week

In a letter sent Friday to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said she planned to discuss next steps at a House Democratic Caucus meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

Pelosi had earlier told reporters the House did not plan to vote Friday to name impeachment managers, the next necessary step in the process before the articles can be sent to the Senate.

“I am very proud of the courage and patriotism exhibited by our House Democratic Caucus as we support and defend the Constitution,” Pelosi said Friday in her letter to colleagues.

“In an impeachment trial, every Senator takes an oath to ‘do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.’ Every Senator now faces a choice: to be loyal to the President or the Constitution.”

Original report: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday she will "soon" transmit articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Republican-controlled Senate, signaling a possible end to a standoff that began last month.

Pelosi, D-Calif., has faced mounting criticism from Republicans and some Democrats who have questioned her decision to hold on to the articles passed three weeks ago. In a vote that fell mostly along party lines, the House voted Dec. 18 to impeach Trump on charges of abuse and obstruction.

"I'm not holding (the articles of impeachment) indefinitely," Pelosi told reporters Thursday. "I'll send them over when I'm ready. And that will probably be soon."

Pelosi didn't provide an exact timeline for the release of the articles. On Friday, she told reporters the House did not yet plan to vote to name impeachment managers, who will be tasked with prosecuting the case against Trump, the next necessary step in the process before the articles can be sent to the Senate.

Pelosi has resisted calls to release the articles to the Senate, saying that Democrats needs more information on the proposed rules of the Senate trial to inform her decision on who to put forth as impeachment managers.

"We want to see what (Senate Republicans are) willing to do and the manner in which they will do it," Pelosi said Thursday. "Documents, documentation, witnesses, facts, truth -- that's what they're afraid of."

Her delay has led to a standoff with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has accused House Democrats of being "too embarrassed" to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate. He said Thursday that if Pelosi continued to refuse to send on the articles, the Senate would simply move on to other business.

“They do not get to trap our entire country into an unending groundhog day of impeachment without resolution,” McConnell said.

House Democrats launched the impeachment inquiry after learning of a whistleblower complaint filed in August by an official concerned about Trump’s attempts to get Ukrainian officials to investigate former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

In a July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump asked his counterpart to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, while holding up military aide for Ukraine. A Ukrainian gas company had hired Hunter Biden when his father was vice president and the Obama administration’s point man on Ukraine. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Biden.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.