Pence aide says Pelosi withholding impeachment articles is "untenable"

Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Pence, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to withhold the House's articles of impeachment until the Senate determines its rules for President Trump's trial is an "untenable" position.

"It's a really an untenable position, we think, for Speaker Pelosi to say this president is such a clear and urgent danger to the world, to the globe, that we have to basically trample his constitutional rights, to force a quick impeachment and then say, 'Well, we're going to hold up impeachment papers and articles of impeachment to send to the Senate.' How can you possibly justify the contrast to say this is urgent, to then say, well, we'll have to wait and see?"

The big picture: Some House Democrats have floated the idea of delaying the transmission of the articles in order to pressure Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to call witnesses, prompting an outcry from President Trump. Pelosi, however, has downplayed the notion that she's playing political "games," claiming it's the norm for the Senate to lay out its guidelines before the House names impeachment managers.

• Short also said on "Meet the Press" that while Trump has expressed an openness to calling certain witnesses, it's "ironic" for Pelosi to claim Democrats have an "airtight case" and still demand new testimony.
• "How can you reconcile those two statements?" Short asked, adding: "We've had a lot of witnesses already."

Go deeper:

• Inside the McConnell-Trump impeachment trial playbook
• Sen. Roy Blunt: Impeachment trial is "not a trial in any classic sense"
• Sen. Doug Jones says he'll vote to acquit Trump if "dots aren't connected"