The day after the House cast historic votes to impeach President Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi put an abrupt halt on the proceedings, holding back from sending the charges to the Republican-led Senate in a politically risky bid to exert influence over the contours of an election-year trial.

With some leading Democrats pushing to delay transmittal of the articles and others advocating that they be withheld altogether, the limbo is likely to persist until the new year. The House left town on Thursday for a two-week holiday recess without taking the votes to appoint impeachment managers, which is required to start the process in the Senate.

“We are ready,” said Pelosi, who has said she would not send the charges or name the lawmakers who would prosecute the case against Trump until she was certain of a fair process for a Senate trial. “When we see what they have, we will know who and how many we will send over.”

By withholding the articles, Pelosi is hoping that Trump will put pressure on Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, to commit to Democratic demands, including the ability to call witnesses during the trial.

But the Speaker’s strategy is also a gamble. Having toiled to present the House impeachment inquiry and the votes on Wednesday as a sombre duty rooted in the Constitution, Pelosi risks appearing to politicise the matter if she withholds the charges for negotiating leverage.

And McConnell was entirely unmoved by Pelosi’s tactics, delivering a speech on Thursday evening in which he appeared barely able to contain his amusement at what he regarded as the Speaker’s missteps.

“I admit, I am not sure what leverage there is in refraining from sending us something we do not want,” McConnell said with a wry smile from the Senate floor. “But alas, if they can figure that out, they can explain it. Meanwhile, other House Democrats say they would prefer never to transmit the articles. Fine with me!”

The wrangling came on yet another day of raw nerves and partisan jabs in a Capitol still reeling from the vote to approve two articles of impeachment against Trump in connection with his campaign to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

The Senate trial is the next step, as dictated by the Constitution. But to prompt that proceeding, Pelosi must transmit the articles and name impeachment managers who will make the case in the Senate. And for now, the two parties are at loggerheads.

McConnell has both infuriated Democrats and complicated the picture for them by asserting that he has no intention of acting as an impartial juror in a Senate trial of Trump, but would instead do everything in his power to quickly acquit the President.