As expected, Nancy Pelosi named managers for Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial on Wednesday.
Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler are on the list. The House voted 228-193 to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate and the seven managers strode in a two-by-two line from the House side of the Capitol to the Senate side Wednesday afternoon to deliver the documents. Mitch McConnell later said the trial will begin next Tuesday.
Here’s the full list of managers:
- Jerrold Nadler
- Adam Schiff
- Jason Crow
- Val Demings
- Hakeem Jeffries
- Zoe Lofgren
- Sylvia Garcia
Stating the obvious, Pelosi noted that impeachment is a “serious matter”, contrary to what you might be inclined to believe if you tuned in to Donald Trump’s Twitter feed.
The president has variously suggested that the Senate should literally change the rules and dismiss the whole thing out of hand. As frustration with Pelosi’s strategy built, Mitch McConnell backed a resolution aimed at doing just that, something the Speaker described as further evidence of a cover-up.
In announcing the managers, Pelosi described the cache of documents released by House Democrats on Tuesday afternoon as further evidence that Trump was “the central player in a scheme to pressure Ukraine for his own benefit in the 2020 election”.
She isn’t exaggerating. The documents – which came courtesy of Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas – are absolutely damning, and not just for Trump.
Read more: Giuliani Associate Parnas, Hyde Had Ambassador Yovanovitch Tailed In Ukraine
Schiff and Nadler said a few words on Wednesday morning.
“We’ve always felt a certain urgency about this impeachment, given that the president was trying to get foreign help in cheating in the next election”, Schiff said.
Trump has spent months maligning the Intelligence chair in the most bombastic terms imaginable. Last year, the president’s campaign raked in an estimated $250,000 peddling shirts featuring Schiff’s head impaled on a pencil for $28 each.
Robert Hyde, who features prominently in the cache of documents released on Tuesday, called Schiff a “b–ch” when reached for comment. He referred to Ambassador Yovanovitch in the same terms in a series of Whatsapp messages with Parnas last year, as the two discussed an apparent surveillance operation.
Nadler summed things up. “We have to proceed, because the integrity of the election is at stake”, he remarked. “This is a test of the Constitution”.
In an oblique reference to Mitch McConnell, Nadler also warned that “the Senate is on trial, as well as the president”.
Read more:
Trump’s Sham Trial In The Senate To Begin Next Week, McConnell Says
Pelosi: Mitch McConnell Complicit In Cover-Up, Americans Will Eventually Hold Him Accountable
One thing that is interesting to me is if the DNC looks for someone to contest Collin Peterson’s nomination for District 7. Younger, Centerist, former military, white (sadly probably a requirement for this part of MN), the blue print for beating trump supporters/enablers in the middle America.