House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gavels as the House votes 232-196 to pass resolution on impeachment procedure to move forward into the next phase of the impeachment inquiry into President Trump in the House Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. The resolution would authorize the next stage of impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, including establishing the format for open hearings, giving the House Committee on the Judiciary the final recommendation on impeachment, and allowing President Trump and his lawyers to attend events and question witnesses. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

In a press conference held in the aftermath of the anti-climactic impeachment vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pointedly refused to commit to sending the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate for trial.

Nancy Pelosi won't commit to sending the House Democrats' sham articles of impeachment over to the Senate.

Basically confirming what we've known all along this impeachment is a WITCH HUNT & A SHAM! pic.twitter.com/2KGQBkIsSE

— Francis Brennan (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@FrancisBrennan) December 19, 2019

Folks, this might be the greatest compliment McConnell has ever received. They are seriously entertaining holding a grenade with the pin pulled rather than facing what happens when they send it over McConnell’s wall. https://t.co/OeD5JzsvwS

— Josh Holmes (@HolmesJosh) December 19, 2019

Charlie Three Wives gives his approval:

Pelosi knows that this is her trump card. https://t.co/7qghUDO6SI

— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) December 19, 2019

What happens next is anyone’s guess. Clearly, what Pelosi is contemplating is trying to make the very political affiliation of the GOP an issue and try to browbeat McConnell into letting the Democrats run things. Friends who are much more familiar with Senate operations than me tell me there is no formal transmittal process to send the Articles to the Senate, that this is all Laurence Tribe pleasuring himself in public as the Democrats applaud and that the Senate can “deem” the Articles as having been transmitted. If Pelosi does withhold the Articles of Impeachment, the politics of it wall will be interesting and the outcome will boil down to who is the more stubborn between Pelosi and McConnell.