US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has named 12 impeachment managers who will carry the articles of impeachment to the senate for US President Donald Trump’s trial.
Pelosi named the House Impeachment managers on Wednesday after the House voted along party lines to submit articles of impeachment to the senate ahead of Trump’s trial which will begin next week.
The impeachment managers are to make the case that Trump is guilty of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The team of managers will be led by Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee chairman and Jerry Nadler, chair of the judiciary committee, both men known adversaries of Trump.
In addition to Schiff and Nadler, other managers were: Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Zoe Lofgren of California, Val Demings of Florida, Jason Crow of Colorado and Sylvia Garcia of Texas
The House charged Trump with using the power of his office to pressure Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, to announce a false investigation into former vice-president Joe Biden in an effort to damage his political rival in the upcoming 2020 elections.
“The emphasis is on litigators,” Pelosi said in introducing the group. “The emphasis is on comfort level in the courtroom. The emphasis is on making the strongest possible case to protect and defend the constitution in the name of the American people.”
“Time has been our friend in all of this because it has yielded incriminating evidence, more truth, into the public domain,” Pelosi said.
