In advance of a formal vote in the House today confirming these appointments, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her choices to represent her chamber and her party in the Senate impeachment trial: seven impeachment managers, with House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff of California designated “lead manager.”
The other six managers are Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York, who along with Schiff played the most prominent role in the impeachment process; Zoe Lofgren of California, a Judiciary Committee member who was on that committee during the Clinton impeachment and was a House staffer during the Nixon impeachment inquiry; Hakeem Jeffries of New York, representing the House leadership as chair of the Democratic Caucus; Val Demings of Florida, a member of both the Intelligence and Judiciary Committee and a former police chief; Sylvia Garcia of Texas, a Judiciary Committee member and a former judge; and Jason Crow of Colorado, sort of representing the rest of House Democrats, and an Armed Services Committee member and former Army Ranger, in case Republicans start calling the managers traitors.
This group strikes quite a contrast to the 13 impeachment managers House Republicans deployed during the Clinton impeachment trial. All 13 were white men, led by then–Judiciary Committee chairman (and best known as an anti-abortion crusader) Henry Hyde, and including current Senator Lindsey Graham. One of them, James Rogan, was despatched from Congress by none other than Adam Schiff.
The new batch of managers is smaller, to be sure, and also a lot more diverse, with three women, two African-Americans, and a Latina. They do all come from safely Democratic districts.
The first responsibility of the managers will be to formally present the two articles of impeachment the House passed in December to the Senate, which means literally showing up in the Senate after a solemn march across the Capitol. That triggers the beginning of the impeachment trial under the Senate’s standing rules. But more important, the managers will present the case for impeachment early in the trial, and answer written questions from senators. You have to figure the very smooth and camera-ready Schiff was chosen to be lead manager as a tribute to how he comes across on television, aside from his superior knowledge of the case which was mostly built in his committee. He also gets under the skin of Republicans, including the president, who has at various times referred to him as “Shifty Schiff,” “Liddle Adam,” “Crooked Adam,” “Sleazy Adam,” and “Pencil Neck.”
Trump will name his own representatives for the trial before long; House Republicans are clamoring to participate in his defense effort, to the horror of Senate Republicans.
