With a Senate impeachment trial looming, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a list of nine impeachment managers – House members who will present the case against former president Donald Trump in the Senate chamber, attempting to convince two-thirds of the chamber, or 67 senators, to vote in favor of conviction.

The impeachment managers will take turns prosecuting the case, similar to lawyers would in a courtroom. Their job: To prove he incited the attempted insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6 that sought to prevent the certification of the 2020 election results. Trump’s lawyers will later take their turn to mount a defense.

Gone are the impeachment managers of 2020, when Trump was charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress over his call with Ukraine. Reps. Adam B. Schiff, Jerrold Nadler and five others took the lead for Democrats in Trump’s first trial. None of them will repeat their role.

The new group of nine is led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), and all nine are lawyers, many former litigators.

“It is their constitutional and patriotic duty to present the case for the President’s impeachment and removal,” Pelosi said in a press release announcing the impeachment managers. “They will do so guided by their great love of country, determination to protect our democracy and loyalty to our oath to the Constitution.”

Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.)
Why Pelosi picked her: Put simply, Pelosi trusts her during important moments. DeGette was tapped to preside over the House debate during Trump’s first impeachment, a moment Pelosi wanted to get right procedurally, and for the cameras. She’s served as Democrats’ chief deputy whip three times, so she knows the caucus well,

DeGette has been in Congress for a while; she just started her thirteenth term in office. She was previously a civil rights lawyer – another litigator on Pelosi’s list.

What she has said about convicting Trump: “Already (Republicans) are saying we shouldn’t have a trial, even though the precedent is clear that you can have an impeachment trial after somebody leaves office. So I’m sure that we’ll hear all kinds of arguments, but I know that the trial will be fair … the evidence is so clear in this case. We have everything, pretty much, on tv.”