Pelosi 'not worried' about impeaching Trump after leaving undermining Biden's message of 'unity'

"You don't say to a president 'Do whatever you want in the last months of your administration,'" Pelosi says.

Published: January 21, 2021 11:10am

Updated: January 21, 2021 4:34pm

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she's "not worried" about whether impeaching former President Trump will undermine newly inaugurated President Joe Biden's message of "unity."

"No, I'm not worried about that," she said during a news conference. "The fact is the [former] president of the United States committed an act of incitement of insurrection." 

The Democrat-controlled House earlier this month impeached Trump on one article of insurrection, based on the argument he incited the Jan. 6 overrunning of the U.S. Capitol Building as lawmakers were attempting to certify the Electoral College votes making Biden president.

The Senate is expected to hold a trial once the House's impeachment article is received.

"I don't think it's very unifying to say, 'Oh, let's just forget it and move on,'" Pelosi also said Thursday. "That's not how you unify. Joe Biden said it beautifully. If you are going to unite you must remember, and we must bring this."

In his inaugural address, Biden said, "Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: Bringing America together. Uniting our people and uniting our nation. I ask every American to join me in this cause."

Pelosi said the impeachment effort won't change just because Trump is out of office.

"You don't say to a president, 'Do whatever you want in the last months of your administration. You're going to get a get out of jail card free because people think we should make nice nice and forget that people died here on Jan. 6,'" she said.

Pelosi hasn't formally sent the article of impeachment over to the Senate yet. Democrats now have a slim majority in the Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote.

The California Democrat addressed the timeline of a Senate trial.

"It will be soon," she said. "I don't think it will be long, but we must do it."

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