Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi expressed her belief that the investigation hearings to isolate President Donald Trump reached "enough evidence to isolate him" in the trial that the Senate will hold.
Pelosi will meet Tuesday with lawmakers to prepare for a formal law-imposed vote to refer Trump's impeachment to the Senate.
The trial is expected to be held quickly in the Senate, where Republicans have a majority to absolve Trump of the charges of abuse of power and obstructing the work of Congress.
Since the House of Representatives decision to launch measures to isolate Trump on December 18, Pelosi has not handed over the two accusations to Trump of pressuring Ukraine to open an investigation against Joe Biden, the most likely Democratic candidate to confront him in the presidential election, and obstructing the investigation in Congress.
Pelosi had hoped to be able to pressure the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, to allow witnesses and present new evidence at the trial, but he did not yield.
And on Sunday, the Speaker of Parliament assured that the delay in referring the two indictments achieved important results, and she said, "We wanted the people to realize the necessity (appearance) of the witnesses."
"The ball is now in their court," Pelosi said. "Either they do that (call the witnesses), or they pay the price for not doing it."
Pelosi added that it was "unusual" for McConnell to support a bill aimed at dropping the isolation case against President Donald Trump, and added that "dropping the case is a cover-up."
On Friday, McConnell became the 13th sponsor of a Senate bill to drop the Trump isolation case if Pelosi did not send Trump's removal bill materials within a specified time.
Pelosi confirmed that new emails supporting the two accusations against Trump emerged in the period following the House of Representatives decision to launch Trump's removal measures, and former US National Security Adviser John Bolton also expressed his willingness to testify if summoned.
Pelosi did not rule out that the House of Representatives summon Bolton if the Senate did not.
No bargaining
On Friday, Trump hinted in an interview with the American "Fox" news network that he would use his presidential powers to prevent Bolton's appearance.
But Mitch McConnell recently declared clearly that the Republican Party has enough votes to not respond to Democrats' demands on the subject of witnesses and the presentation of new evidence.
In a tweet, Trump said the case should be closed without trial, considering that any Senate measures would give undue credibility to what he considered a "political hunt campaign" against him by his Democratic opponents.
Trump added that he expected the Senate to clear him quickly, and that his trial would end as soon as possible.
"Why should I have the stigma attached to me while I did not do anything wrong?" He asked in his Sunday tweet. Adding that this is "unfair to tens of millions of voters."
Trump again called for the head of the investigation committee, Adam Schiff, to be summoned as a witness, calling for Pelosi to be called to testify.
The trial comes at a critical time with the escalation of the presidential election fever this year.
The Democratic Party will hold its first preliminary vote in Iowa on February 3.
Senators asked Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Claubechar, Corey Booker and Mike Bennett to be the jury members at the trial, which could affect their campaigns.
