Nancy Pelosi announces impeachment managers. Here’s how they could impact the trial

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced her picks for impeachment managers as she moves to send the two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for a formal trial.

Pelosi said Wednesday she selected Reps. Adam Schiff, Jerry Nadler, Zoe Lofgren, Hakeem Jeffries, Val Demings, Jason Crow and Sylvia Garcia to make the case for impeachment to the Senate. Schiff will serve as the lead impeachment manager.

Her picks will now go to the House, which will vote on a resolution designating them as official impeachment managers.

“I’m very proud and honored that these seven members, these distinguished members, have accepted this responsibility,” Pelosi said.

Five of the seven managers serve on the House Judiciary Committee, and two — Schiff and Demings — serve on the Intelligence Committee.

Once approved, the managers will hand-deliver the articles to the Senate on Wednesday, and Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed the trial could start as early as Tuesday.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham criticized Pelosi after the announcement, saying that the House Speaker delayed sending the impeachment articles to the Senate “in an egregious effort to garner political support.”

“She failed and the naming of these managers does not change a single thing,” Grisham said in a statement.

What are impeachment managers?

Impeachment managers are like prosecutors whose job it is to convince the Senate that Trump deserves to be removed from office. The group will walk the two articles of impeachment from the House to the Senate, and then present their arguments on the Senate floor.

The managers likely will be split into different tasks, such as opening the case, discussing the individual articles and giving closing statements. President Bill Clinton’s trial had 13 Republican impeachment managers, including Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner and Steve Chabot and Sen. Lindsey Graham, who are still active lawmakers.

Who else will be at the trial?

Trump will have his own defense team at the trial, which likely will be led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone, according to The New York Times, NBC News and others.

Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi previously said during a Fox News appearance that Cipollone was “one of the brightest, if not the brightest attorney I have ever worked with.”

“His team is prepared to take this on,” she told Fox News.

It is unclear who else will represent Trump. Clinton had eight people on his defense team.

Chief Justice John Roberts will preside over the trial, as did Chief Justice William Rehnquist during Clinton’s trial. The chief justice can make rulings during the trial, such as whether certain people can testify. But senators can overturn the chief justice’s ruling by majority vote.

Roberts will get some help from the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, whose job it is to stay up to date on all the rules and procedures of the impeachment trial. She will inform him of the schedule of the day, the timing of the trial and could give him advice should he need to make any rulings.

Removing Trump from office on the impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress requires a two-thirds majority vote from the Senate, or 67 votes.

This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 10:22 AM.