Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, will miss the final procedural step in the impeachment process before the House casts a final vote as he tends to a family emergency.
Two Democratic sources told The Hill that Nadler is away from Congress on Tuesday because his wife is ill.
Nadler’s absence comes the same day as the House Rules Committee is scheduled to set the terms of the chamber’s floor debate on voting on two articles of impeachment against President Trump.
The whole chamber is expected to cast a final vote on the articles Wednesday. They are expected to pass along a roughly party-line vote with possibly a handful of Democratic defections.
The New York Democrat is anticipated to return to Washington late Tuesday or early Wednesday, according to Politico. Rep. Jaime Raskin (D-Md.), another member of the Judiciary panel, is expected to present the articles of impeachment to the Rules Committee.
The two articles of impeachment center around abuse of power over Trump’s pressuring of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a chief political rival, and obstruction of Congress over his commands to administration officials to defy congressional subpoenas for testimony and documents.
Scott Wong contributed to this report.