Thread by @DempseyTwo

During impeachment, it’s important to understand who the House Managers are. They are the ones to present the case to convince the Senate that trump should never again hold office. So let’s look at team democracy’s starting lineup and why it’s them.

🗣Get your program here🧵👇🏻

Our lead House Manager is @RepRaskin. Jamie Raskin is a constitutional scholar. A professor. He knows our Constitution so well, he knows it’s strengths and weaknesses. He has a bill to strengthen our 25th Amendment by allowing professionals to evaluate fitness of president.

https://twitter.com/dempseytwo/status/1347720347664199682

So why is it important to have a Constitutional scholar as a prosecutor in the case against trump? Because the Republicans in the Senate aren’t even convinced the trial of the twice impeached president is even legal. They first have to be convinced the trial can even happen.

Having a constitutional scholar first argue why this trial is constitutional is an important step in breaking the intransigent thinking on this topic. If he cannot convince republican Senators the trial is legal, there is no hope of convicting trump.

@RepDianaDeGette and @RepDean are both civil liberties and civil rights attorneys. In Dean’s case she is from Pennsylvania. There was a lot of litigation and misinformation about PA, specifically about the desire to disenfranchise Black voters. Degette leads investigations

After Raskin argues this proceeding is not only legal but necessary for democracy, I expect having people argue the importance of democracy to the Senate is also important. What is more important in a democracy than the vote? They will tear down any election fraud claims.

And because they are civil liberties and civil rights attorneys, they will be able to destroy the argument that the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th was in anyway equivalent to the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020.

They will also remind us how important the vote is in a functioning democracy and lies about election fraud is detrimental to the very foundational principle of democratic society. Remember, they will be trying to convince the very people who aided in this injustice.

Lindsey Graham tried to get votes tossed in GA by calling their Sec of State. Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Cindy Hyde-Smith, John Kennedy, Cynthia Lummis, Roger Marshall, Rick Scott and Tommy Tuberville all voted against certifying the election. For 3 of these, this was their 1st act.

So we have a constitutional scholar telling us the process is legit, we have 2 civil rights attorneys arguing about the value of the protest and the vote, and how what happened on January 6th was no protest, now here come the hammers...

@davidcicilline has been pissed since the first judiciary hearing the committee had since getting the gavel in 2018. He knows the procedures, the functioning of government, how it should work, and how it hasn’t under the trump administration. He knows things.

Cicilline is familiar with the tactics of trump, he recognizes him for who he is. Cicilline brings receipts, argues for regular order in every hearing and holds his republican colleagues to account. He speaks the truth, is matter of fact and speaks in plain language.

Oh, and he wrote the Article of Impeachment.

https://twitter.com/dempseytwo/status/1349407894362587138

@tedlieu and @JoaquinCastrotx just like Cicilline, these two Managers serve on the foreign affairs committee. That’s 3 members of that committee. Why would we need to have that many members of that particular committee on the prosecution team of a domestic terrorist event?🤔

Lieu is military, knows military protocols. Saw what happened on January 6th. He is a truth. He deals in facts, asks the right questions and holds those he questions to providing him answers. He also speaks plainly, concisely and in a matter of fact manner.

Castro and @RepSwalwell are from the intelligence committee in the House. So they know things too. A lot of things. All the things. Swalwell is not one to back down from his across the aisle colleagues. He has fought with them in every hearing Intel had during impeachment 1.

What they present should be damning. They will be able to show exactly what happened. They will show footage of the Capitol attack. Footage we have yet to see. Remember, the Capitol is kind of a secured place in the government so I expect there to be security cameras.

If at anytime, the Senators get upset, catch the vapors, clutch their pearls, I expect it will be as a result of Castro, Cicilline, Lieu or Swalwell’s presentation. They will be the voice of our outrage.

Usually around this point in our arc, there would be a downward trend toward calm. But this mixtape is all rise! VI Rep @StaceyPlaskett is an all business, no foolishness, fact-breathing Bronx prosecutor who does not play. She kicks asses and chews gum and is almost out of gum.

She can remind the Senate how Un-American the events of June 6th were. The Managers have to make the case that trump incited the insurrection. They will have to present the events leading up to the insurrection, the meetings, the planning, the funding, rally at the Ellipse.

Plaskett brings the receipts. In every hearing, her questions are always backed up with a document for the witness and on point. If it happened, she will find evidence of it. I look forward to her presentation.

@JoeNeguse and @StaceyPlaskett are similar in their approaches in the hearings. Neguse brings the facts, speaks in a common sense, plain speaking manner. He lays things out logically, and builds toward answers. He doesn’t rattle.

If I were @SpeakerPelosi, this is the lineup I’d put out. This is an all-time starting nine. All fighting to defend, preserve and strengthen democracy. Our democracy. For this trial, our democracy is good hands. But ultimately, democracy is in our hands.

With that responsibility, we should be voting for people like the House Managers. These are civil servants. They are truly representing us. The us that makes us US.

The starting nine of Team Democracy
@RepRaskin
@RepDianaDeGette
@RepDean
@JoaquinCastrotx
@tedlieu
@davidcicilline
@RepSwalwell
@StaceyPlaskett
@JoeNeguse
END