In Which I Call "Bullshit" on Politico

Politico struggles to remain relevant:

ELI HONIG, a former federal prosecutor and CNN analyst, described it this way when Jake appeared with him on SiriusXM the other day: The Constitution stipulates other instances when things must be “transmitted” to the Senate -- such as the ratified results of the electoral college vote. It never says anything like that when it comes to impeachment. So, McConnell can hold a trial without the articles. The majority leader has been mum about his intentions thus far, but has said that impeachment will lead to acquittal -- something nearly all Capitol watchers believe.

And Trump hasn't been "impeached" yet because Pelosi hasn't delivered the articles to the Senate.  Remember that one?

There are Senate rules for conducting an impeachment trial.  Trying the President without Articles of Impeachment is equivalent to trying a criminal defendant without either arraignment or a grand jury indictment.  Maybe the Constitution doesn't say the Senate has to receive articles from the House (it doesn't even say what the impeachment process is.  "Articles" are a product of House rules.), but it does say the House has the sole power to impeach.  If McConnell tries Trump without articles, we're back to the "Trump hasn't been impeached yet" argument, but on stronger grounds.  Is McConnell really that anxious to exonerate Trump?  Is the Senate?

Besides, when the House does transmit the Articles, the Senate has to try Trump all over again.  There's no double jeopardy for impeachment.

And the Double Jeopardy Clause doesn’t apply.

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) December 24, 2019

Epic fail, Politico; as the kids used to say.

Let me just add this here, from Raw Story, since I don't subscribe to Daily Beast:

“Some of them bragged off-the-record to reporters that Pelosi was out of her depth, and didn’t understand what a master of the Senate McConnell is, particularly when it comes to preventing things from happening in the upper chamber.” But that was a gross miscalculation their part, according to Lurie, who writes that “it has since become increasingly clear that McConnell is the latest of many men of power in the GOP to underestimate both Pelosi, and to overestimate the tolerance of the American people for presidential criminality.”

“Washington Republicans spent the days following the impeachment hearings focused on political maneuvering, and seemed to forget the virtually undisputed evidence of a massive criminal scheme directed by the president that had emerged before Congress.”

The "Master of the Senate" has met his match with the one office established in the Constitution that is not an Executive office, and with the holder of that office.  The revelations today  are going to be extremely damning, as has all the news since the Senate went into recess.  Pelosi is the master of this situation, and no one else.