Schiff, Nadler Likely to Be Trial Managers: Impeachment Update

(Bloomberg) -- The full House is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to adopt the two articles approved by the Judiciary Committee and make President Donald Trump only the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.Here are the latest developments:Schiff, Nadler Likely to Be Trial Managers (4:45 p.m.)House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff and Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler are likely to be named by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to lead the House managers who will present evidence against Trump during an impeachment trial, according to people familiar with the matter.The rest of the House managers will mostly be Democrats on the Judiciary and Intelligence panels, the people said. It isn’t yet certain how many impeachment managers there will be, the people said.One lawmaker who is not expected to be chosen is independent Justin Amash of Michigan, who left the Republican Party earlier this year and supports impeachment, one person said. Moderate Democrats Backing Trump Articles (3:37 p.m.)The remaining uncommitted moderate Democrats are starting to announce how they will vote on Wednesday, and most so far are saying they’ll back impeaching the president.Utah’s Ben McAdams said in a statement he will vote to impeach because “the president abused the power of his office by demanding a foreign government perform a personal favor” and obstructed Congress’s investigation.Joe Cunningham of South Carolina also released a statement saying he will back impeachment, as did New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas and Abigail Spanberger of Virginia.Freshman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan announced in an opinion piece in the Detroit Free Press that she will vote to impeach, even though she said she’s been told many times that the vote “will mark the end of my short political career.”Two Democrats said they’ll oppose impeaching the president, and both voted against opening the House inquiry. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey said Friday he’s a “no” on impeachment. Five members of his staff resigned over the weekend amid reports that he’ll switch his party registration to Republican.Democrat Collin Peterson of Minnesota said he’ll oppose impeachment “unless they come up with something between now and Wednesday,” according to the Pioneer Press.Schumer Seeks Bolton, Mulvaney Testimony (2:36 p.m.)Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the White House should let acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, former National Security Advisor John Bolton and two other White House officials testify at an impeachment trial “unless the president has something to hide.“The four witnesses “have direct knowledge of why the aid to Ukraine was delayed,” Schumer told reporters Monday. “These people are crucial and haven’t been heard from.“The other two officials are Robert Blair, senior adviser to Mulvaney, and Michael Duffey, the White House budget office’s associate director for national security.Schumer said he’s “very eager and willing” to talk with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about trial procedures, but instead McConnell has spoken publicly and said he would be taking his cues from the White House. That would be “very unfair,” Schumer said.The minority leader also has asked that the White House produce documents on Ukraine aid that it has thus far withheld.“I haven’t seen a single good argument about why these witnesses shouldn’t testify or these documents shouldn’t be produced,” Schumer said.Some Republicans have said that Trump should be able to call the witnesses he wants, including Joe Biden or his son. Hunter Biden served on the board of Ukraine energy company Burisma Holdings, and Trump had asked Ukraine’s president to investigate that matter.The House is expected to vote on the two proposed articles of impeachment on Wednesday. -- Laura LitvanDemocrats Offer Jobs to Rebel Member’s Aides (11:39 a.m.)The chairwoman of the House Democrats‘ campaign committee offered jobs to aides of Representative Jeff Van Drew who left his office following news reports that the freshman New Jersey lawmaker plans to quit his party and become a Republican.“It’s right before the holidays and these staffers just quit their jobs to stand up for their Democratic values. We’ll bring them and others who leave on with the @dccc until they land new jobs that align with their values,” Chairwoman Cheri Bustos of Illinois wrote on Twitter. She also asked for donations to keep Van Drew’s district in Democratic hands.Van Drew is one of just two House Democrats who voted against opening the impeachment inquiry in October. He won a vacant seat in 2018, though election analyst David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report said his southern New Jersey district is “trending towards” Trump and Republicans. He said Van Drew “was just about the only Democrat capable of winning” there.Five Van Drew staffers announced their resignations in a letter dated Sunday. They said they “are deeply saddened and disappointed” by his reported decision to join the GOP — which he has not publicly announced — and “can no longer in good conscience continue” to work for him. The aides are Javier Gamboa, Edward Kaczmarski, Justin O’Leary, Mackenzie Lucas and Caroline Wood. -- Sahil KapurJudiciary Panel Releases Report (9:21 a.m.)The House Judiciary Committee released a 169-page report spelling out Democrats’ grounds for two articles of impeachment, arguing that Trump poses “a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office.”The two articles allege the president abused the power of his office by soliciting Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election and then obstructing Congress during its investigation.The report is meant to support an impeachment resolution the House Rules Committee will consider Tuesday in what’s expected to be a marathon hearing setting the terms for floor debate ahead of a full House vote on Wednesday.The Judiciary Committee “does not lightly conclude that President Trump acted with corrupt motives,” the report states, calling that conclusion “inescapable.”The report accuses Trump of using his official powers “to solicit and pressure” Ukraine to launch investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden, a 2020 rival.It also criticizes the White House’s resistance to cooperating with the probe.“No president before this one has declared himself and his entire branch of government exempt from subpoenas issued by the House under its ‘sole power of Impeachment’,” the panel’s Democrats wrote.Committee Republicans filed a separate dissenting report that said “the paltry record on which the majority relies is an affront to the constitutional process of impeachment and will have grave consequences for future presidents.”The Republicans described as “hyperbolic and untrue” Democratic claims that the 2020 election is at risk and the national interest is in jeopardy unless action is taken against Trump.“The quicker the majority report and the majority’s actions are forgotten, the better,” they stated. -- Billy HouseCatch Up on Impeachment CoverageKey EventsThe House Judiciary Committee on Friday approved the two articles of impeachment on 23-17 party-line votes.The House impeachment resolution is H.Res. 755. The Intelligence Committee Democrats’ impeachment report is here.Gordon Sondland’s transcript is here and here; Kurt Volker’s transcript is here and here. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch’s transcript is here and here; the transcript of Michael McKinley, former senior adviser to the secretary of State, is here. The transcript of Holmes, a Foreign Service officer in Kyiv, is here.The transcript of William Taylor, the top U.S. envoy to Ukraine, is here and here. State Department official George Kent’s testimony is here and here. Testimony by Alexander Vindman can be found here, and the Fiona Hill transcript is here. Laura Cooper’s transcript is here; Christopher Anderson’s is here and Catherine Croft’s is here. Jennifer Williams’ transcript is here and Timothy Morrison’s is here. The Philip Reeker transcript is here. Mark Sandy’s is here.\--With assistance from Sahil Kapur and Laura Litvan.To contact the reporter on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie AsséoFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.