The impeachment standoff showed no signs of ending Friday as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shrugged off Democratic complaints about a potential Senate trial of President Donald Trump.
Returning to the Capitol Hill after the holidays, the powerful Senate leader accused House Democrats of "flinching" by refusing to send articles of impeachment to the upper chamber for a trial.
"They've done enough damage," McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor. "It's now the Senate's turn to render sober judgment as the framers envisioned."
McConnell said the Senate would start its session by dealing with "ordinary business" until and unless Democrats "muster the courage to stand behind their slapdash work product."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., did not immediately respond to McConnell and aides said the two leaders have not spoken directly since before Christmas.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said there has been no progress on Democratic demands that any trial include documents and witnesses that Trump blocked from appearing during the House inquiry.
McConnell "hasn't given one good reason why there shouldn't be relevant witnesses or relevant documents," Schumer said minutes after the GOP leader spoke. "Instead of trying to find the truth, he is still using the same feeble talking points."
The House voted to impeach Trump for abusing his power in the Ukraine scandal and obstructing the congressional probe.
Pelosi has so far declined to forward the articles of impeachment, which are similar to an indictment in a criminal case, to the Senate for trial.
Democrats hope to use the delay as leverage to force McConnell to make concessions about the rules for a Senate trial, especially the need for witnesses such as fired National Security Adviser John Bolton and Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney.
Both sides admit those two and others had direct knowledge of Trump's plan to bully Ukraine into launching bogus investigations into Democratic front-runner Joe Biden and a discredited conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election, not Trump.
McConnell is adamant that the Senate will only consider whether witnesses are even needed after initial opening arguments and presentation of facts by both sides. Democrats suspect he will use that as an excuse to quickly vote for Trump's acquittal after little more than a restatement of the arguments Americans have already heard.
The standoff poses risks for both sides.
The longer the impeachment ax hangs over Trump's head, the more pressure Republicans face to accept a fair trial.
But Democrats have to worry that voters will be turned off by their stalling tactics.
