One of the impeachment managers selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) previously raised objections during the Electoral College certification of President Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
Pelosi announced late on Tuesday evening that she had selected Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) to be the “lead manager” during impeachment.
During Congress’s certification in January 2017, Raskin had the following exchange with then-Vice President Joe Biden:
Biden: What purpose does the member rise?
Raskin: I have an objection because 10 of the 29 electoral votes cast by Florida were cast by electors not lawfully certified because they violated Florida’s prohibition against dual office holders.
Biden: The debate is out of order. Section 15 and 17 of the Title III of the United States code requires that any objection be presented in writing, signed by both … a member of the House of Representatives and a Senator. Is the objection in writing and signed not only by the member of the House of Representatives but also by a Senator?
Raskin: It’s in writing, Mr. President.
Biden: Is it signed by a Senator?
Raskin: Not as of yet, Mr. President.
Biden: In that case the objection cannot be entertained.
Raskin even told a local newspaper that he wanted to challenge the Electoral College vote but didn’t think there was enough support to do so.
“I would love to challenge the Electoral College vote because our election was badly tainted by everything from cyber-sabotage by Vladimir Putin, to deliberate voter suppression by Republicans in numerous swing states,” Raskin told The Baltimore Sun. “But it’s a very hard thing to prove that an election would have turned out differently than it did, and the law requires a challenge from both the House and the Senate, and I’m not seeing that happen.”
WATCH:
Lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin objected to Florida's electoral votes in 2017. pic.twitter.com/FsLvJLvA8v
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) January 13, 2021
Pelosi highlighted the following in a short snippet on Raskin:
Congressman Jamie Raskin is a member of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, where he serves as Chair of Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and on the Judiciary Committee, where he serves as Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on the Constitution. He also serves on the Rules Committee and the Committee on House Administration, where he is Vice Chair. Prior to his time in Congress, Raskin was a three-term State Senator in Maryland and a professor of constitutional law at American University’s Washington College of Law for more than 25 years.
Democrats are impeaching Trump for allegedly inciting what they claim was an attempted insurrection against the United States.
“President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021 was consistent with his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election,” the article of impeachment stated. “Those prior efforts include, but are not limited to, a phone call on January 2, 2021, in which President Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to ‘find’ enough votes to overturn the Georgia presidential election results and threatened Mr. Raffensperger if he failed to do so.”
“In all of this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of government,” the document stated. “He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coordinate branch of government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States.”
“Werefore President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law,” the article of impeachment concluded. “President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.”