Pelosi announces House impeachment managers to prosecute case against Trump

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday announced the seven lawmakers who will serve as the House managers to prosecute the case against President Trump in his Senate impeachment trial, which is expected to begin in earnest next week.

The House managers include House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who will be the lead manager and who led much of the impeachment inquiry out of his committee with dramatic hearings to develop the case against the president and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., whose panel drafted the articles of impeachment.

Pelosi also tapped House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.; Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo.; Val Demings, D-Fla.; Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas; and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.

During then-President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1999, there were 13 House impeachment managers.

A White House official told Fox News on Tuesday that the president’s legal defense team in the looming impeachment trial would be led by White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. The official said that Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow would also serve on the president’s defense, as well as Cipollone deputies Michael Purpura and Patrick Philbin.

The official told Fox News that other attorneys could cycle through or be on the floor in a support capacity, but that those details and types of decisions will be made by the president if and when he deems necessary.

After several days of procedural moves, the Senate is poised to launch into the heart of the impeachment trial as early as next Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., shot down the notion being floated by the president earlier this week to bypass a trial and dismiss the articles altogether.