Overseeing: East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell will serve as an impeachment manager.
Pelosi appoints him to serve as one of the nine House members who will present case to Senate colleagues
East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell was tapped to serve as an impeachment manager as the House of Representatives voted Wednesday afternoon to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting last week’s deadly storming of the Capitol complex and will be part of the team of Democratic lawmakers making the case to their Senate colleagues to convict the outgoing commander in chief.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi named the Dublin Democrat as one of nine impeachment managers. Rep. Ted Lieu of Southern California was also selected.
With Vice President Mike Pence declining to use the 25th Amendment to try to remove Trump from office, House Democrats, joined by 10 GOP colleagues, voted Wednesday to impeach the president. It now falls to the Senate to convict Trump.
While a number of Republicans in recent days have openly called for Trump’s impeachment and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is reportedly quietly supportive of the idea, it was unclear Wednesday whether enough members of the GOP planned to join Democrats to secure a conviction.
In a phone interview after the vote, Swalwell said having 10 Republicans join Democrats provides “a good place to start” when it comes to convincing Senate Republicans who have largely stood by Trump to vote to convict him.
If the Senate found Trump guilty, lawmakers could also move to prevent Trump from holding public office again.
As an impeachment manager, Swalwell was charged with making the case that the president should be impeached for a second time. Last year, Pelosi tapped California Reps. Adam Schiff and San Jose’s Zoe Lofgren, experienced litigators, to make a case for impeaching Trump for pressuring Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, who at the time was a Democratic presidential candidate. Lofgren was a young congressional staffer in the 1970s and helped develop the charges brought against President Richard Nixon.
She also served on the House Judiciary Committee when the House moved to impeach Bill Clinton. “Our president incited our citizens to attack our Capitol,” Swalwell said on the House floor Wednesday, adding that he believes the president is continuing to incite future attacks.
Over the phone afterward, Swalwell said, “The more you say it out loud, the harder it is to believe,” regarding fleeing for his life with colleagues just a week ago when the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
President-elect Biden is set to be inaugurated as the next president in a week and already National Guard members are pouring into the nation’s capital to beef up security amid concerns about another violent insurrection. “Now is the time to summon your courage to guide you,” Swalwell urged his GOP colleagues during his floor speech.
Referring to Capitol Police officers who faced the mob as members of Congress fled to safety, he said, “I’m not asking you to summon the courage that they did. I’m just asking you to do your job and hold this president accountable.” He said he had hoped the Senate, which was not in session Wednesday, would move quickly on convicting Trump. “I’ll be ready,” he said.
Swalwell’s own family has supported Trump in the past. The congressman on Wednesday declined to discuss their feelings about the president now, but said he comes from a family with law enforcement and military members who have provided security at rallies and other large events.
“I don’t think anyone wants to see something like this ever again,” he said. “That hits close to home.”
“I don’t think anyone wants to see something like this ever again. That hits close to home.” — East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell on President Donald Trump being impeached for a second time Wednesday