Pelosi Doles Out Impeachment Pens, A Signing Tradition

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., second from right, gives pens to, from left, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., after she signed the resolution to transmit the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. The two articles of impeachment against Trump are for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) — One by one, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi picked up pens lined up beside her and used them to sign a bit of her name on the impeachment articles against President Donald Trump. Then she handed each signing pen to the assembled chairmen and House managers who will prosecute the case in the Senate.

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Signing pens are swag in Washington, often doled out on more celebratory occasions. They can be seen framed and hung in lobbies across the city as trophies of proximity to power. Trump has engaged in the tradition himself.

But Pelosi handed out the pens on a darker day, as she signed the impeachment articles against only the third president in history.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham on Wednesday criticized Pelosi both for the pens and the speaker’s demeanor, which got some blowback on social media for being too cheery for such a grave development.

“Nancy Pelosi’s souvenir pens served up on silver platters to sign the sham articles of impeachment,” Grisham tweeted, reposting a photo. Pelosi, she wrote, “was so somber as she gave them away to people like prizes.”

Pelosi’s signature sent the articles against Trump to the Senate for trial, which is expected to open Thursday. The House-passed documents charge the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for pressuring Ukraine to help him politically. Trump says the whole thing is a “hoax” and claims he is a victim of a political “witch hunt” led by Pelosi. He is the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.

Before the signing, aides set out two small trays containing more than two dozen black pens emblazoned with Pelosi’s signature. She entered the room and sat at a table, the documents and pens before her. Standing around her were the House prosecutors and the committee chairmen who had worked on Trump’s impeachment. Pelosi picked up each pen, signed a bit, and handed each one to a lawmaker.

Sometimes, she was smiling.

Trump is familiar with this tradition. In a much-photographed ceremony in June 2018, he signed an executive order halting family separations at the U.S. border. He then handed the pen to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

On December 22, 2017, in the Oval Office, Trump signed the Republican tax bill into law while Congress was in recess. But Trump’s aides brought some pens, anyway — so he tried to give them out to reporters . Journalists can’t take gifts from the people they cover.

The tradition didn’t start with Trump.

President Lyndon Baines Johnson gave away framed sets of the pens he used to sign his “great society” legislation to fight poverty and racial injustice. Among the recipients were lawmakers and the White House press corps. A complete set still resides in the press work space behind the White House briefing room.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., left, gives a pen to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., second from right, after she signed the resolution to transmit the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. The two articles of impeachment against Trump are for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., center, and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., right, watch. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., second from right, reacts after getting a pen from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., after she signed the resolution to transmit the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. The two articles of impeachment against Trump are for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Other looking on are, from left, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel, D.-N.Y., House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., second from left, gives a pen to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., right, after she signed the resolution to transmit the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. The two articles of impeachment against Trump are for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Other looking on are, from left, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., and House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-California. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., second from right, gives pens to, from left, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., after she signed the resolution to transmit the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. The two articles of impeachment against Trump are for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., signs the resolution to transmit the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. The two articles of impeachment against Trump are for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

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6 Comments
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Democrats support America's enemies and if you support them than so do you.
Democrats support America's enemies and if you support them than so do you.
4 years ago

Tehran Nancy continuesly lies like shiffhead did about what was said in the phone call and about the fascist impeachment process she initiated to try to stage a coup.

Voice of Reason
Voice of Reason
4 years ago

די רעבעצין טיילט שיריים.

, yidden
, yidden
4 years ago

Mixed up yid o goty

, yidden
, yidden
4 years ago

Mixed up yid or goy

John smithson
John smithson
4 years ago

Schiff and nadler. Meh haya lanu!!!

Concerned taxpayer
Concerned taxpayer
4 years ago

Who paid for those pens?