The House of Representatives voted on a resolution to send two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate, setting up a historic trial in the upper chamber.
The vote came hours after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the seven House Democrats who will serve as impeachment "managers" at the Senate trial.
Pelosi announced Wednesday at a news conference that the case will be presented by Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., and Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas.
Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, and Nadler led the impeachment probe against Trump in the House. Lofgren is a veteran of two House impeachments. Jeffries and Crow also bring experience as attorneys. Demings is the former police chief of Orlando, while Garcia is a former judge.
All were approved by House vote, clearing way for the upcoming trial, which is expected to begin Tuesday.
Pelosi cited new evidence submitted by Lev Parnas, a former associate of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, which she said showed "the president was the central player in the scheme to pressure Ukraine for his own benefit in the 2020 election."
"This is about the Constitution of the United States, Pelosi said. "And it's important for the president to know, and for Putin to know, that the American voter should decide who our president is — not Vladimir Putin in Russia."
Schiff rejected Republican criticisms that Democrats took too long to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate, which he argued was the result of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who he accused of attempting a "cover-up."
"We've always felt a certain urgency about this impeachment, given that the president was trying to get foreign help in cheating in the next election," he said. "If McConnell makes this the first trial in history without witnesses, it will be exposed for what it is — and that is an effort to cover-up for the president."
"We have to proceed, because the integrity of the election is at stake," Nadler added. "If the Senate doesn't permit the introduction of all relevant witnesses and of all documents that the House wants to introduce . . . then the Senate is engaging in an unconstitutional and disgusting cover-up . . . The Senate is on trial, as well as the president."
Pelosi posted several tweets calling out McConnell after the House released Parnas' new evidence.
"There can be no full & fair trial in the Senate if Leader McConnell blocks the Senate from hearing witnesses and obtaining documents President Trump is covering up," Pelosi wrote.
"The President has fought tooth-and-nail to keep thousands of documents away from the public," she added. "And no wonder — each time new pieces come out, they show President Trump right at the center of the effort to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals."
Trump, for his part, lashed out following the announcement.
"Here we go again, another Con Job by the Do Nothing Democrats," he tweeted. "All of this work was supposed to be done by the House, not the Senate!"
Pelosi took a shot at Trump at the news conference, warning that even if the Senate acquits Trump he will still be one of just three presidents who have been impeached in the country's history.
"He has been impeached forever," she said. "They can never erase that."
Shares