Pelosi Has ‘Driven a Wedge Between McConnell and Trump,’ Ex-WH Press Secretary Says

The former White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton weighed in on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to delay the transmission of impeachment articles to the Senate.

Appearing on CNN’s New Day on Friday, Joe Lockhart said the California Democrat is engaged in “three-dimensional political warfare” with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

“I think it’s Pelosi effectively driving a wedge between Mitch McConnell and the president,” Lockhart said. “Mitch McConnell’s equity here is his senators, protecting those six vulnerable senators [who include] Martha McSally (R-AZ), Susan Collins (R-ME) [and] Cory Gardner (R-CO). The president’s equities are [that] he wants to do a vindication tour; he wants to go around like he did after the election 2016 and say, ‘See, I was right. I’m exonerated.’ And Pelosi has figured out a way to drive that wedge.”

Pelosi has indicated that she wants assurances from the Senate leader that the forthcoming trial will be a fair one with the ability to call witnesses. Some Republicans have rejected the notion of hearing from key figures inside the administration so that the trial will wrap up sooner rather than later.

“Just as importantly,” Lockhart said on this topic, Pelosi is “keeping the issue of these live witnesses alive as long as she can. That is a very popular idea.”

A majority of voters think the Senate should call witnesses who defied House investigators, a Morning Consult poll found, with slightly more Republicans backing the move than opposing it.

Watch the video above, via CNN.