The White House ripped Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday just moments after she announced the seven lawmakers who will serve as the House managers in the Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump.
“The only thing Speaker Pelosi has achieved with this sham, illegitimate impeachment process, is to prove she is focused on politics instead of the American people. The Speaker lied when she claimed this was urgent and vital to national security because when the articles passed, she held them for an entire month in an egregious effort to garner political support. She failed and the naming of these managers does not change a single thing. President Trump has done nothing wrong,” The White House said in a statement after Pelosi held a press conference with the seven Democratic impeachment managers.
“He looks forward to having the due process rights in the Senate that Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats denied to him, and expects to be fully exonerated. In the meantime, after President Trump signs the historic China Trade Deal greatly benefiting the people of this country, he will continue working and winning for all Americans, while the Democrats will continue only working against the President,” the White House statement continued.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi while joined by Vice President Mike Pence before delivering the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building on February 5, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is set to be the lead manager. The other managers include House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, Democratic Florida Rep. Val Demings, Democratic Texas Rep. Sylvia Garcia, and Democratic California Rep. Zoe Lofgren.
The seven impeachment managers’ roles are very much like the roles of prosecutors, as the members are responsible for presenting the impeachment inquiries to the Senate and making the case as to why Trump should be impeached with the evidence they have gathered.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has strongly pushed back against Pelosi and House Democrats’ continued effort to impeach Trump, saying Monday that the decision to sit on the articles of impeachment for a month is a “strange gambit” that “produced absolutely nothing.” (RELATED: Sen. McConnell Says Pelosi’s Impeachment Strategy Achieved ‘Absolutely Nothing’)
Despite Pelosi’s early reluctance to push for impeachment, 228 Democrats had voiced support for impeachment or an impeachment inquiry before the vote. Pelosi has said she believes Trump is “goading” Democrats to impeach him because he thinks it will help him fire up his base. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: We Asked Every GOP Senator About Impeachment. Seven Ruled It Out.)
Pelosi had continued to withhold the articles of impeachment, saying she doesn’t think the Republican-led Senate will hold a trial that both sides can agree on.