After several weeks of delays, Nancy Pelosi's gambit of withholding the articles of impeachment from the Senate appears to have backfired following intense pressure not only from Republicans - amid a series of political, economic and stock market victories by Trump who managed to put the impeachment news solidly on the back burner - but also amid a rising outcry by frustrated Democrats, and moments ago the House Speaker said the House will prepare to send articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate next week, just one day after Mitch McConnell said he was backing a resolution to change the Senate's rules to allow for lawmakers to dismiss the articles of impeachment against Trump before the House sends them over.

"I have asked Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler to be prepared to bring to the floor next week a resolution to appoint managers and transmit articles of impeachment to the Senate," Pelosi wrote in a letter to House Democrats on Friday.

"I will be consulting with you at our Tuesday House Democratic Caucus meeting on how we proceed further" she wrote further, effectively capitulating to Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who has promised a speedy acquittal of Trump, and has all but told Pelosi to pound sand, saying in a Wednesday speech on the Senate floor: "There will no haggling with the House over Senate procedure," adding "We will not cede our authority to try this impeachment."