A House Impeachment Manager Talks Resilience After the Insurrection
Rep. Stacey Plaskett is one of the prosecutors overseeing Trump’s trial
The Virgin Islands, like all U.S. territories, did not have a vote when it came to certifying the next president of the United States. But it certainly has a voice now that Rep. Stacey Plaskett sits as an impeachment manager for the trial of outgoing president Donald J. Trump.
The Brooklyn-born Plaskett, whose parents moved from the Virgin Islands to New York, says this appointment — by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — was unexpectedly perfect. The former New York prosecutor would not specify details of how she and the other impeachment managers will handle Trump’s upcoming trial, but Plaskett said she’s ready.
“The significance to me, personally, is feeling like the culmination of a lot of the work that I’ve done over my life,” Plaskett told ZORA via Zoom. Her experience on the Hill and as a lawyer prepared her for moments like this, where she and eight other legislators will serve as prosecutors when the trial goes to the Senate. “I was once a member of the Bronx district attorney’s office, where you get a week of training and then are thrown into a courtroom.”
To hear Plaskett tell it, moving forward, the case has the potential to move quickly, with a caveat. “You know, this is the fastest impeachment trial,” she says. “I hear a lot of people asking, ‘When is the speaker bringing over the impeachment?’ The more appropriate question is when is the Senate going to accept the impeachment? The Senate is out on recess until the 19th. So, we’ll see what happens.”
The events of the January 6 insurrection are still fresh in Plaskett’s mind. The Congressional Black Caucus member was on the Hill that day and in her office when things began to get rough. She opted to not stay in a safe room with Republicans who refused to wear face masks. And now, given that three politicians who were in that safe room have since tested positive for Covid-19, it seems her decision to stay safe with her staff was prescient.
More than fear that day, Plaskett remembers, she felt shock.
“No one could have expected what was going to happen,” Plaskett says. “We were all very…
