House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday tapped Rep. Jamie Raskin to lead the impeachment case against President Trump on Wednesday, skipping over the high-profile managers who led Democrats’ previous effort a year ago.
Mr. Raskin, who represents a district in suburban Maryland just over the line from Washington, was a professor of constitutional law at American University and was also the driving force behind this week’s effort to try to pressure the vice president to trigger the 25th Amendment to oust Mr. Trump.
Mr. Raskin also suffered a personal tragedy late last month with the death of his son, who committed suicide.
In kicking off debate Tuesday over the 25th Amendment, Mr. Raskin said Mr. Trump lit the fuse that resulted in last week’s attack on the Capitol.
“I think it was a crime against the republic,” he said.
Others on the impeachment team are Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado, David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Joaquin Castro of Texas, Eric Swalwell of California, Ted Lieu of California, Joe Neguse of Colorado and Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania. Also on the team is Delegate Stacey Plaskett, the Virgin Islands’ non-voting member of Congress.
“It is their constitutional and patriotic duty to present the case for the president’s impeachment and removal,” Mrs. Pelosi said.
None of the lawmakers were part of the team that presented the impeachment case to the Senate in 2020 after President Trump’s 2019 phone call with Ukraine’s president.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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