Pelosi picks impeachment squad; House votes to send articles to Senate

WASHINGTON — An Army veteran, a former cop and a congressional aide during the Nixon impeachment proceedings are among the U.S. House Democrats who will soon make the case for ousting President Donald Trump from office. 

The U.S. House on Wednesday approved a resolution that named seven impeachment managers to serve as prosecutors in the upcoming Senate trial against Trump. The resolution, which passed on nearly a straight party-line vote, with Wisconsin’s members of Congress all voting with their parties, also triggers the transmission of the impeachment articles to the Senate. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the roster of impeachment managers on Wednesday ahead of the floor vote. 

“Today, I have the privilege of naming the managers of the impeachment trial of the president,” Pelosi said. “It is their responsibility to present the very strong case for the president’s impeachment and removal. The impeachment managers represent the patriotism, pluralism and vibrancy of America.”

The roster includes House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who have led the House impeachment investigations. Another manager, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), was on the Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and she was a committee aide during the Nixon impeachment proceedings in the 1970s. 

The other managers: Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a former litigator; Val Demings of Florida, a former Orlando police chief; House freshman and former U.S. Army ranger, Jason Crow of Colorado; and Sylvia Garcia of Texas, another freshman and former presiding judge of the Houston Municipal System. 

Pelosi selected fewer House managers than there were during the Clinton impeachment proceedings; there were 13 Republican managers during Clinton’s Senate trial. 

The Senate trial against Trump is expected to get underway as early as next Tuesday. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) slammed House Democrats Wednesday as the chamber prepared to send the impeachment articles to the upper chamber. 

“Speaker Pelosi and the House have taken our nation down a dangerous road,” McConnell said. “If the Senate blesses this unprecedented and dangerous House process by agreeing that an incomplete case and subjective basis are enough to impeach a president, we will almost guarantee the impeachment of every future president.”