The House approved the appointment of seven lawmakers Wednesday to serve as impeachment managers in a Senate trial that will weigh abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges against President Trump.
Democrats passed the resolution 228-193 with no Republican support. The measure allows the House to continue to transmit evidence to the Senate that supports their claim the president should be convicted of two impeachment articles they passed in December.
“The resolution provides broad authority to submit to the Senate any additional evidence the House has acquired on its own,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat and one of the impeachment managers. “And we will do so.”
The House Intelligence Committee Tuesday night released new documents acquired from Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. The material, which was not part of the evidence used when the House voted to impeach Trump, will be transmitted to the Senate today along with the impeachment articles “to be included as part of the official record,” Democrats said.
The measure exactly mirrors language in the resolution House Republicans passed in 1998 when they appointed 13 GOP lawmakers to manage the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. That legislation also permitted the House to send additional evidence during the Senate trial.
The impeachment managers will prosecute the House case in the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said earlier Wednesday that the lawmakers are experienced litigators.
The seven lawmakers will walk across the Capitol later this afternoon and deliver the articles to the Senate, which will begin a trial next Tuesday that is likely to result in Trump’s acquittal.
[Related: Pelosi: Trump impeached forever. ‘They can never erase that’]
Democrats have been investigating Trump for months but are pushing the Senate to call new witnesses and subpoena additional documents related to their allegation that Trump improperly withheld $391 million in security aid.
“A fair trial must include additional documents and all relevant witnesses,” Nadler said. “The Senate is on trial, and we will see whether they will conduct a serious trial or a cover-up.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, denounced Democrats for passing “a political impeachment,” following “a predetermined process” pushed by liberal Democrats who have sought Trump’s ouster since he took office in 2017.
“Let’s use this blunder as a teachable moment,” McCarthy said.
Pelosi said during a floor speech ahead of the resolution vote that Trump’s actions were a threat to the nation’s election security and that the president is allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin to determine the outcome of the 2020 election.
