Lawmaker Whose Wife Just Got Diagnosed with Cancer Announces He Will Miss Impeachment Trial
Rep. Jerry Nadler, one of Democratic lawmakers prosecuting President Donald Trump‘s impeachment trial in the Senate, announced Friday morning that he would miss the “conclusion” of that case because he needed to be with his wife, who is sick with pancreatic cancer.
Joyce Miller was diagnosed in December, and her husband had previously said he expected to miss part of the trial.
“I am sorry to not be able to stay in Washington for the conclusion of the Senate impeachment trial but I need to be home with my wife at this time,” Nadler, 72, tweeted on Friday. “We have many decisions to make as a family. I have every faith in my colleagues and hope the Senate will do what is right.”
After days of arguments and questioning, the Senate is expected to proceed to a final vote on Trump’s impeachment charges in the next hours or possibly days. An acquittal is likely, given the number of Republicans who would be needed to vote with Democrats — while conservatives have said they are reluctant to engage with what they called a “partisan” investigation.
RELATED: Donald Trump Impeached by House of Representatives Over Ukraine Scandal
I am sorry to not be able to stay in Washington for the conclusion of the Senate impeachment trial but I need to be home with my wife at this time. We have many decisions to make as a family. I have every faith in my colleagues and hope the Senate will do what is right.
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) January 31, 2020
Nadler announced on Sunday that his wife had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December, near the end of the impeachment investigation in the House of Representatives.
“She has undergone surgery and is taking further steps to address the spread of the cancer,” Nadler said then, adding tht he was planning to return home to New York to “meet with doctors, determine a path forward, and begin her treatment.”
Nadler is one of the seven Democrats from the House of Representatives who were chosen as impeachment managers, presenting the House’s case throughout the Senate trial in a role analogous to a prosecutor.
On Sunday, Nadler said he was sorry to “miss some of the Senate Impeachment Trial, which is of critical importance to our democracy.”
Others online were quick to support his decision.
“Family comes first,” Alyssa Milano responded on Friday. “Always.”
Read my statement on missing part of the Senate Impeachment Trial on Monday because of a family health matter: pic.twitter.com/fis3vkZrid
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) January 26, 2020
The process leading up to Trump’s historic impeachment and his ensuing trial in the Senate has played out since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced an investigation in late September.
Nadler has been a leading voice for the Democrats’ push to impeach and remove the president from office for his role in the Ukraine scandal, in which Trump lobbied Ukraine into investigating political rival Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election.
“Our president holds the ultimate public trust,” Rep. Nadler, who was the the chair of the House Judiciary Committee that drafted the articles of impeachment against Trump, said in December. “When he betrays that trust and puts himself before country, he endangers the Constitution, he endangers our democracy and he endangers our national security. The framers of the Constitution prescribed a clear remedy for presidents who so violate their oath of office. That is the power of impeachment.”
