Pelosi named the House Impeachment managers on Wednesday after the House voted along party lines to submit articles of impeachment to the Senate ahead of Trump’s trial which will begin next week. The impeachment managers are to make the case that Trump is guilty of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

The team of managers will be led by Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee chairman, and Jerry Nadler, chair of the judiciary committee, both men known adversaries of Trump.

In addition to Schiff and Nadler, other managers were: Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Zoe Lofgren of California, Val Demings of Florida, Jason Crow of Colorado and Sylvia Garcia of Texas

Pelosi said “The emphasis is on litigators, the emphasis is on the comfort level in the courtroom. The emphasis is on making the strongest possible case to protect and defend the constitution in the name of the American people. Time has been our friend in all of this because it has yielded incriminating evidence, more truth, into the public domain”.

The articles unveiled Tuesday, say Trump abused his power as president by telling the Ukraine government to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden while withholding a White House meeting and military aid while the second charge states that Trump obstructed congress by ordering White House staff and agencies not to testify in the just concluded impeachment hearing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was flanked by Judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler and Intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff as they announced the formal articles of impeachment which will be voted on by the house this weak, and if the votes go along party lines, Trump could be impeached by the US House of Reps as early as next week..

Nadler speaking to reporters said Trump had endangered the US constitution, jeopardised national security, undermined the integrity of the 2020 election and ‘sees himself above the law’.

President Trump has been engrossed in a battle with the Democrat controlled House of Reps after a whistle blower alleged that Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden in exchange for $400m worth of military aid.

Earlier this month, when the Republicans requested that the whistleblower be included among the impeachment witnesses called to testify,  Schiff said the testimony of the whistle blower, a CIA agent would be “redundant and unnecessary.” after Trump accused the whistleblower of being  a traitor. The whistleblower’s attorney further informed the GOP that his client would only answer questions in writing rather than come out publicly to testify.

Adam Schiff said “I know where you are with the whistleblower and the leaf that you don’t need to hear from the whistleblower anymore. You did pledge that the Intelligence Committee would hear from the whistleblower in some form or another? Are you going to fulfill that pledge? We had a deep interest in having them testify. Two things happened. One we were able to prove it with witnesses that had first-hand information and second the president and his allies effectively put that whistleblower’s life in danger. The president said the whistleblower and others should be treated as a traitor and a spy and we ought to use the penalty and that’s the death penalty. So here’s the thing, Chuck, we don’t need the whistleblower’s second-hand evidence. It would only serve to endanger this person and gratify the president’s desire for retribution and that is not a good enough reason to bring in the whistleblower.”

Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., became one of the latest figures this week to seemingly embrace the bizarre viral craze after observers noticed that a series of tweets he posted during the first day of public hearings in the impeachment inquiry against President Trump spelled out, “Epstein didn’t kill himself.”

The meme has spread like wildfire since the death of the convicted pedophile in August. New York City’s medical examiner determined he had taken his own life inside his Manhattan federal prison cell, but vocal skeptics have suggested otherwise during random blurt-outs on television and other signs.

In Gosar’s usage of the meme, he first posted a tweet claiming “evidence of a link between foreign aid and political investigations simply does not exist.”

Before that, he wrote “President @realDonaldTrump voluntarily chose to release the transcript of his phone call which clearly shows he did nothing wrong. This impeachment circus is a total sham, and Adam Schiff is the clown at the center of it all.”

Jessica Fletcher

✔@heckyessica

.@RepGosar with the “Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself” secret message just won twitter for the day.

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Schiff said that lawmakers are in talks with Mueller’s office about testifying, but that time is “running out” for him as the August recess for Congress looms on the horizon.

“We have been in private discussions with the special counsel’s office,” Schiff said. “I’d hope we reach this decision this week.”

Schiff added: “We’ll reach a final conclusion; either he’s going to come in voluntarily or we’re going to have to subpoena him.”

In a rare press conference last month, Robert Mueller said he had fulfilled his duties as special counsel investigating Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election and had no intention of appearing before Congress.

“I am speaking out today because our investigation is complete,” Mueller said last month. “The attorney general has made the report on our investigation largely public. We are formally closing the special counsel’s office. And as well, I’m resigning from the Department of Justice to return to private life.”

“I hope and expect this to be the only time I will speak to you in this matter,” Mueller added. “No one has told me whether I can or should testify or speak further about this matter.  There has been discussion about any appearance before Congress,” he said.

“Any testimony from this office would not go beyond our report. It contains our findings and analysis, and the reasons for the decisions we made. We chose those words carefully, and the work speaks for itself.”

However, House Democrats, have been insistent that Mueller testify, with House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., also putting bold threats to subpoena the special counsel if he doesn’t voluntarily appear before Congress. Nadler’s committee members said they are still negotiating with Mueller’s team and that no timeline for an appearance is yet clear.