President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial kicks off this afternoon at 1 PM ET when the Senate takes up the resolution to set the rules for the trial.
The Senators will go to the chamber at 12 p.m. ET for leadership remarks but adjourn at 12:30 p.m.
The debate begins at 1 p.m. ET. It should last two hours with each side receiving equal time.
McConnell’s resolution gives the House Democratic managers 24 hours to present their case to the senate over two days. Trump’s legal team receives the same amount of time.
After Trump’s team finishes, the Senators may question the sides for up to 16 hours.
When the questioning ends the Senate will have four hours, two for each side, “to consider and debate to subpoena witnesses or documents.”
If they vote no then no one can call for new witnesses or documents. If they vote yes then “both sides will have an opportunity to motion to subpoena witnesses, then senators will debate and vote on them.”
From The Wall Street Journal:
Wearing a dark suit and red tie, Mr. Cipollone spoke slowly and deliberately, sometimes with long pauses between words, as he repeatedly tapped the lectern with the side of his left hand as he made each point. Mr. Cipollone took less than three minutes to explain the White House’s support for the rules.”The president has done absolutely nothing wrong, and…these articles of impeachment do not begin to approach the standard required by the Constitution,” Mr. Cipollone told senators. “There is absolutely no case.”
Cipollone also said that the House did not give Trump much due process:
“Information was selectively leaked out. Witnesses were threatened. Good public servants were told that they would be held in contempt. They were told that they were obstructing,” Cipollone said.House Democrats, he said, held the articles of impeachment for 33 days, arguing that their case is not prepared if they need to hear from additional witnesses in the Senate.“We hear all this talk about an overwhelming case. They’re not even prepared,” he said of Democrats.House Democrats, he said, “concocted a process” that locked the President out, calling out Schiff, who has not provided documents regarding his staff’s work with the whistleblower.Cipollone went on to call the idea that Democrats want to call witnesses in the Senate trial “ridiculous.”“The idea that they would come here and lecture the Senate – by the way, I was surprised to hear that, did you realize, you’re on trial? … Everybody’s on trial except for them. It’s ridiculous, it’s ridiculous. They have overwhelming evidence and they’re afraid to make their case. Think about it, it’s common sense. Overwhelming evidence… and then they come here and they say, ‘You know what, we need some more evidence,’” he said.Cipollone continued: “If I showed up in any court in this country and I said, ‘Judge, my case is overwhelming, but I’m not ready to go yet. I need more evidence’ … I would get thrown out in two seconds and that’s exactly what should happen here.”
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