WASHINGTON – US Virgin Islands delegate Stacey Plaskett has limited privileges as a member of Congress because she represents US territory: she cannot vote in the House plenary.
She was unable to vote for President Trump’s impeachment, but she will now be able to make a case against him at her Senate trial as impeachment manager chosen by spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi.
On Wednesday on Twitter, she accused Mr Trump of “conduct that predictably resulted in imminent lawless actions by his supporters” when he incited a crowd that attacked Capitol last week.
Born in Brooklyn, the daughter of parents who came from the Virgin Islands, Ms. Plaskett graduated from Georgetown University in history and diplomacy and the Washington College of Law at American University. She served as an assistant district attorney in the Bronx, as a lawyer on the House ethics committee and as a policy nominee in President George W. Bush’s Department of Justice, among other positions.
Ms. Plaskett moved to the Virgin Islands, where she worked in the private sector, before being elected in 2014 to represent the group of islands in southeastern Florida, in the Caribbean Sea. During her career in Congress, Ms. Plaskett has prioritized economic development in the Caribbean. She is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
In a 2019 letter to Ms. Pelosi in which Ms. Plaskett asked to be appointed impeachment manager for the House at Mr. Trump’s first trial, she cited the weight the decision would have on her constituents, who have no full rights voting rights, as well as her years of experience working in the public service and as a prosecutor.
“The party says that black women are the base and our main support, and there are five black women in the House who are prosecutors and only two of us are former prosecutors,” Plaskett said in the letter, according to BuzzFeed News.
Mrs. Plaskett was not chosen the first time. But Pelosi announced late on Tuesday that Plaskett would help bring the second case against Trump.