President Trump has been impeached

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told GOP senators at a policy lunch yesterday that he will announce by the end of the week the date for the start of an impeachment trial in the Senate, sources told CNN.  

This will allow senators to depart Washington for a two-week holiday recess with certainty about when the trial will begin. We don’t know what that date will be but there are strong suggestions from pretty much everyone it will be the week of Jan. 6.

McConnell is expected to meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to begin hashing out an agreement on the rules and structure of the trial. Both have said they intend to meet but we it's unclear when that will happen. 

What the trial may look like: It appears both sides are interested in the general structure of the 1999 Clinton impeachment trial when House impeachment managers and the president’s defense counsel made opening arguments before senators haggled over whether to compel witness testimony.

The House debate on the articles of impeachment has roughly five more hours to go.

Both Democrats and Republicans still have a little more than 2 hours left to speak.

The debate is expected to conclude at about 7 p.m. ET. The vote on the articles of impeachment will happen after that.

Rep. Paul Mitchell, a Republican from Michigan, railed against the impeachment of President Trump.

Watch here:

Rep. Jerry Nadler pushed back today on his Republican colleagues by invoking special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.

“I would remind the gentleman that after recovering millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains, the Mueller investigation was actually a net plus for the taxpayers,” Nadler said. 

Facts First: Nadler is wrong that the Mueller probe was “net plus” for taxpayers. The investigation cost $32 million, according to figures released by the Justice Department, and the government is expected to recoup more than $17 million as a result of the investigation, according to a CNN analysis of the sentences handed down to defendants charged by Mueller.

The Mueller investigation didn’t bleed cash, and it was completed faster than some other high-profile investigations. About half of the costs of the Mueller investigation were recovered, but Nadler exaggerated the monetary benefits of the probe. 

Most of the money was recovered because of case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was ordered to pay millions of dollars in back taxes.

Just this week, Manafort’s deputy Rick Gates was sentenced to pay a $20,000 fine for his crimes, in addition to serving 45 days in jail. Manafort and Gates were both prosecuted by Mueller’s team.

Watch the moment:

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, said, "I hate no woman or man."

The comment came after Rep. Chris Stewart, a Republican from Utah, claimed Democrats were impeaching Trump because "they hate this President."

Watch here:

Rep. Chris Stewart, a Republican from Utah, claims the impeachment of President Trump has been pushed forward by Democrats because "they hate this President."

The word "hate" in the impeachment: Earlier this month, the word "hate" became a talking point after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a scathing warning to a reporter.

The reporter had asked her a question about her feelings about Trump to which Pelosi responded with, "Don't mess with me."

The California Democrat forcefully pushed back on the idea that she and her caucus are proceeding with articles of impeachment because of a personal dislike of Trump, after being asked by a reporter from Sinclair, James Rosen, if she hates him on her way out of the weekly press conference.

Pelosi stopped and said: "I don't hate anybody."

Watch the moment:

Asked if the GOP would make other procedural motions to mount their objections to the process and force roll-call votes, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise told CNN “probably not."

That means the final vote on the articles of impeachment will likely occur between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. ET.

He also told CNN that President Trump called him this morning. They talked about his letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and how Trump believes impeachment is a “personal vendetta” against him.

Rep. Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Tennessee, defended his support of the impeachment of President Trump today, citing his oath of office.

Speaking ahead of the President’s visit to Michigan, Vice President Mike Pence talked impeachment during his first stop of a “bus tour” there.

Pence thanked the crowd at the “Workers for Trump” event for coming out, “on a blustery Michigan day.”

“On a day when there’s a lot of bluster in Washington, DC as well,” he added.

His message of standing with the President got him loud applause and occasional chants of “four more years” from the crowd.

“When this president stands up to the do-nothing Democrats, their endless investigations, and their partisan impeachment, we stand with President Donald Trump,” Pence said.

“It’s great to be with so many friends today, and to be out of Washington, DC,” the Vice President joked to the crowd. “Truthfully, friends, what’s happening on Capitol Hill is a disgrace. The first day of this administration, Democrats in Washington have been trying to overturn the results of the last election, and they’re back at it again today with their partisan impeachment vote.”