The Speaker of the House of Representatives dug her heels in after Senator Lamar Alexander, who was one of a handful of wavering Republicans, refused to side with the Democrats on the crunch vote on witnesses. The Tennessee politician said the Democrats had proved Mr Trump acted inappropriately but it did not amount to an impeachable offence. His refusal to vote with Dems all but sealed an acquittal for the president.
The Democrats needed four Republicans to vote with them to allow witnesses to testify.
As defeat looked more likely than ever for the Democrats in the historic trial, Ms Pelosi said without testimonies, there could be no proper trial.
She told Politico: “He will not be acquitted.
“You cannot be acquitted if you don’t have a trial.
“You don’t have a trial if you don’t have witnesses and documentation and all of that.
“Does the president know right from wrong? I don’t think so.”
Mr Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton was among the figures the Democrats have been trying to call as witnesses.
READ MORE: Donald Trump impeachment: House votes in FAVOUR of impeachment inquiry
Ms Pelosi blasted the president’s legal team, claiming they had “disgraced themselves”.
She accused the lawyers of trampling on the Constitution and questioned how they would be allowed to retain their licences
She told The Hill: “I don’t know how they can retain their lawyer status, in the comments that they’re making.
“I don’t think they made the case.
“I think they disgraced themselves terribly in terms of their violation of what our Constitution is about and what a president’s behaviour should be.”
Her comments were taken as a response to what Alan Dershowitz said on Wednesday.
Speaking on the Senate floor he asserted that presidents cannot be impeached for actions designed to boost their reelections, if they believe that remaining in the Oval Office is in the best interest of Americans.
He said “every public official I know,” would agree with him on that assessment.
Mr Dershowitz said: “If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.
He said the exception to this would be in cases where the president’s conduct violated a specific law.
The two impeachment articles put forward by the Democrats, charging Mr Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, fall outside the federal criminal code.