Trump impeachment trial: Who are the House managers?

Key chairmen and rising Democratic stars to lead House prosecution of case against Trump in the Senate.

Nancy Pelosi and managers
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announces the impeachment managers during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington [Susan Walsh/AP Photo]
Correction15 Jan 2020
This article has been corrected to state that Jerrold Nadler received his law degree from Fordham University, not Columbia University as previously stated.

Washington, DC – US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday named seven Democratic members of the House of Representatives as managers of the chamber’s case in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial. 

The group will be led by Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who spearheaded the House’s impeachment inquiry, and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, whose committee was responsible for advancing the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

“They are basically the prosecutors,” said Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School.

“They present the case on behalf of the House of Representatives on why the president should be convicted and removed from office and in this case also disqualified from ever holding future office,” Tribe told Al Jazeera.

In the Senate impeachment trial, all 100 senators must be present in the Senate chamber with the chief justice of the Supreme Court presiding.

House managers will be responsible for presenting the factual evidence and constitutional legal basis for Trump’s impeachment to the senators sitting as a jury.

“They have a fair amount of discretion about what they emphasise and the evidence they present,” Tribe said. 

As the US prepares for the trial, here are the House members who will be presenting the Democrats’ case: 

Adam Schiff

Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is a former federal prosecutor from California. His take-no-prisoners handling of the House’s inquiry into a suppressed whistle-blower’s report led to Trump’s impeachment for pressuring Ukraine. 

Adam Schiff
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff [File: Susan Walsh/The Associated Press]

He has a strong mental command of the voluminous testimony and documents given to House investigators by 17 witnesses and is adept at telling the narrative of Trump’s actions.

Jerrold Nadler

Jerrold Nadler is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which conducted a review of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

It is the Judiciary Committee that wrote and advanced two articles of impeachment against Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Jerrold Nadler
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler [File: J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press]

A career politician and representative of New York City, Nadler and Trump have a long history. Nadler has a law degree from Fordham University in New York and a keen understanding of the constitutional and congressional procedural issues surrounding Trump’s impeachment.

An even-handed but determined advocate, Nadler was an early and forceful proponent within the Democratic leadership of moving forward with the impeachment of Trump.

Zoe Lofgren 

Pelosi said Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren has played a role in three presidential impeachment proceedings, including as a staffer during the inquiry of former President Richard Nixon and as a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the investigation of former President Bill Clinton. 

Zoe Lofgren
Democratic representative from California Zoe Lofgren speaking during a House Judiciary Committee markup of the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington [FIle: Alex Brandon/AP Photo]  

Lofgren, who is from California, is serving her 13th term in Congress. She is also a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and chair of the Committee on the House Administration. 

Hakeem Jeffries 

Hakeem Jeffries of New York is a member of the House Judiciary Committee and chair of the House Democratic Caucus. 

Hakeem Jeffries
Representative from New York Hakeem Jeffries questioning Acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker during his testimony in the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, US [Joshua Roberts/Reuters] 

Before entering politics, he was a corporate lawyer in New York. 

Val Demings

Val Demings has a law enforcement background, as the first black woman police chief of Orlando, Florida. 

Val Demmings
Representative Val Demings [File: Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press]

During the House impeachment inquiry, Demings was forceful on both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees in expressing outrage at Trump’s unlawful behaviour.

Jason Crow

Jason Crow is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Before entering Congress, he was a lawyer in Colorado. 

Jason Crow
Democratic representative from Colorado Jason Crow speaking as the House of Representatives debates the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump at the Capitol in Washington [File: House Television/AP Photo] 

Crow served in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army Ranger. 

Sylvia Garcia

Representative Sylvia Garcia is a member of the House Judiciary Committee. 

Sylvia Garcia
Democratic Representative from Texas Sylvia Garcia speaking during a House Judiciary Committee markup of the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, on Capitol Hill in Washington [File: Jose Luis Magana/AP Pool Photo]

Garcia is among Texas’s first Latina women elected to the US House of Representatives. 

Source: Al Jazeera