Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, center, flanked by Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., left, and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif., criticizes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and the Democrats for launching a formal impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

As my Red State colleagues Bonchie and Streiff noted on Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is playing a peculiar game of chess with Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) when it comes to the articles of impeachment.

Instead of preparing to transmit them, which you’d think she’d do ASAP considering how critical it was for Democratic House leaders to get the articles voted on in the House before Christmas, she’s withholding them in an effort, at least on the surface anyway, to get McConnell to play by her rules:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi refused to commit Wednesday to delivering articles of impeachment to the Senate, citing concerns about an unfair trial on removing President Donald Trump from office.

“So far we haven’t seen anything that looks fair to us,” Pelosi told reporters at a news conference just moments after the House charged Trump with abuse of power and obstructing congressional investigations. “That would’ve been our intention, but we’ll see what happens over there.”

That Pelosi seems to expect McConnell to cede ground to her in the debate over how the trial will be conducted in the Senate under his leadership is laughable, especially when you consider how House Democratic leaders took unprecedented steps to keep Republican minority members in the dark on much of the impeachment inquiry process, while also limiting options for White House attorneys to prepare a defense for the President.

In response, McConnell’s already made it clear that he’s not gonna play her game.

As you might expect, Pelosi’s curious actions in the immediate aftermath of the vote to impeach Trump Wednesday night did not escape the attention of Republican leaders in the House like Jim Jordan (R-OH), who blasted the majority in a tweet Thursday for the delay:

Dems called it an emergency. They had to rush the impeachment through Congress.

Now AFTER a sham impeachment process, they’re going to wait to send the actual Articles to the Senate?

They don’t take the Constitution seriously. This is all about attacking the President.

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 19, 2019

Jordan and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) appeared on Sean Hannity’s show Thursday night to discuss Pelosi’s actions with former congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who was guest hosting. During the segment, Jordan and Biggs both talked about how the reality of it was that Pelosi didn’t expect the tables to turn on Democrats with American voters in the middle of their latest attempt at ousting Trump. But it happened, and now she doesn’t know which way to turn.

Watch the full interview below:

On a related note, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) is recommending the articles be withheld indefinitely from the Senate.

That’s cool. Meanwhile, McConnell will keep on doing what he’s been doing throughout this entire sham process: confirming judges.