The U.S. Senate will hold a historic second impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump this month, ending with a vote to determine if he is guilty of inciting the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The former president is facing a charge of “incitement of insurrection” in connection with the mob that invaded the Capitol as U.S. lawmakers met to certify the election results that put President Joe Biden in office.
Here are the House Democrats who will make the case for impeachment:
Impeachment Managers
The impeachment managers are members of the U.S. House of Representatives who will present the case of impeachment against former President Trump in the Senate chamber.
The nine managers take turns speaking, acting like prosecutors in a courtroom, with the goal to persuade two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 lawmakers, to vote in favor of conviction. Trump faces a single count of incitement of insurrection for the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol where lawmakers were in the process of certifying the Electoral College results from the 2020 presidential election.
All nine of the Democratic managers are lawyers and all are new to the role, having not served as managers in the first impeachment trial of Trump in 2019, when the Senate acquitted the former president for obstruction of justice and abuse of power arising from Trump’s request that Ukraine investigate then-candidate Joe Biden and his son.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland
Raskin, 58, is leading the prosecution. He spent more than 25 years teaching constitutional law at American University and has also served as a Maryland state senator. A member of the House Judiciary Committee, Raskin was also involved in the deliberations over Trump’s first impeachment in 2019. The lawmaker’s 25-year-old son died by suicide just a week before the January 6 riot at the Capitol. Raskin said he decided to take on the role as lead House impeachment manager because “I’m not going to lose my son at the end of 2020 and my country and my republic in 2021.”
Rep. Diana DeGette of Colorado
DeGette, 63, has been in Congress since 1997 and was previously a civil rights lawyer and also served two terms in the Colorado House. She has served in Democratic leadership roles before, having been the chief deputy whip in the House for over a decade as well as presiding over the House debate during Trump’s first impeachment.
Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island
Cicilline, 59, has been in Congress for over a decade and is a former Washington city public defender, a former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and a former lawmaker in that state. He is only the fourth openly gay person to be elected to Congress. A member of the Judiciary Committee, he was involved in deliberations over Trump’s previous impeachment and this year helped to write the articles of impeachment.
Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas
Castro, 46, has served in Congress for eight years and is a former leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. As member of the House Intelligence Committee, he was involved in Trump’s first impeachment. Before his time in Congress, he served in the Texas legislature and as a lawyer in private practice. His twin brother, Julian, ran for president in 2020.
Rep. Eric Swalwell of California
Swalwell, a former prosecutor, is in his fifth term in Congress. He sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and is a frequent guest on cable news. A member of both the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees, the 40-year-old was highly visible during the 2019 impeachment of Trump.
Rep. Ted Lieu of California
Lieu, 51, was elected to Congress in 2014 and serves on House Judiciary Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee. He helped to write the impeachment articles along with Raskin and Cicilline. Before his time in Congress, Lieu served as a lawmaker in California as well as in the Air Force Reserve and was a prosecutor in the force’s legal arm, the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He is still a member of the Air Force Reserve.
Rep. Stacey Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands
Stacey Plaskett, 54, is a non-voting member of Congress, representing a U.S. territory, the Virgin Islands. An African American and former prosecutor, she previously worked as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx borough of New York City, and as a senior counsel at the Department of Justice. Plaskett serves on the House Ways and Means Committee.
Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania
Dean, 61, is one of the newest members to serve as an impeachment manager, currently serving her second term in Congress. She is a former member of the Pennsylvania state legislature and has also worked as a lawyer in private practice as well as teaching writing and ethics at LaSalle University.
Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado
Neguse, 36, was first elected to the House in 2018 and is currently serving his second term. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee and before coming to Congress was a litigator in private practice. He is the first African American congressman to represent Colorado. Neguse is also the youngest impeachment manager in a Senate trial.
Presiding Officer
The U.S. Constitution calls for the chief justice of the Supreme Court to preside over impeachment hearings for a president, however because Trump is no longer in office, Chief Justice John Roberts has decided not to preside over this trial. Instead, senators have chosen the Senate's longest-serving member, Democrat Patrick Leahy, to take on the role. Aides to Leahy say the lawmaker will still be able to vote in the trial as well as preside over it, a move that has been criticized by some Republicans.
Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Leahy, 80, was first elected to the Senate in 1974, making him the longest serving member and earning him the title president pro tempore of the Senate. In that role, he is responsible for presiding over the chamber in the absence of Vice President Kalama Harris, and his status also puts him third in line of presidential succession.
He is currently the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is the senior most member of the Judiciary Committee and Agriculture Committee. Before becoming a senator, Leahy was a prosecutor in Vermont. He has described his job of presiding over the impeachment trial as “making sure that procedures are followed” and said he believes his years in the Senate will help him to be seen as impartial.
