Feldman claims impeachment is not complete until Articles of Impeachment have been given to Senate

One of the impeachment witnesses the Democrats presented in their case against President Donald Trump, Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman, said in an op-ed on Thursday that Democrats have not yet impeached the president despite their vote last night.

Feldman’s op-ed at Bloomberg News comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is considering withholding sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate because she is worried that the political trial would be biased in favor of the president.

“So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us,” Pelosi told reporters last night. “That would’ve been our intention, but we’ll see what happens over there.”

Feldman noted that “according to the Constitution, impeachment is a process, not a vote,” and that while a modest delay would not pose a problem, a lengthy delay would be a “serious problem.”

“Impeachment as contemplated by the Constitution does not consist merely of the vote by the House, but of the process of sending the articles to the Senate for trial,” Feldman wrote. “Both parts are necessary to make an impeachment under the Constitution: The House must actually send the articles and send managers to the Senate to prosecute the impeachment. And the Senate must actually hold a trial.”

Feldman continued, “If the House does not communicate its impeachment to the Senate, it hasn’t actually impeached the president. If the articles are not transmitted, Trump could legitimately say that he wasn’t truly impeached at all.”

Feldman noted that if Democrats do not send the articles of impeachment to the Senate that it would not only deviate from constitutional protocol but it would also “deny the president the chance to defend himself in the Senate that the Constitution provides.”

Democrats’ vote on impeachment last night was the first time in U.S. history that impeachment was a purely partisan event as only Democrats and one independent member of Congress voted for it while all Republicans voted against it and were joined by multiple Democrats.