Impeachment trial of President Trump

The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump — only the third impeachment trial in US history — kicked off in earnest today. While there were procedural moves in the trial last week, today marked the first serious day of trial.

Here’s what you need to know about how the day played out:

The Senate has adopted the rules for the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on a party line vote of 53-47.

The vote comes after nearly 13 hours of debate. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer proposed 11 amendments to the rules, all of which were killed by Senate Republicans.

The Senate adjourned for the end of the first day of the trial right after the vote.

Read more on the day here

The Senate is now voting on whether to adopt Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed rules for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. The vote comes after more than 12 hours of debate and discussion over the rules and 11 amendments proposed by Democrats, all of which were killed by Senate Republicans.

The Senate has killed the 11th, and final, proposed amendment to the Senate impeachment trial rules that was brought by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The final one would have given Chief Justice John Roberts power over subpoenaing witnesses and documents, instead of leaving it to a vote of the Senate.

The final amendment died, as did nearly all of the first 10, along party lines. The vote was 53-47.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced his 11th proposed amendment to the rules of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial early Wednesday and said it would be his last. The previous 10 had all been defeated either on, or mostly on, party lines.

The 11th amendment would allow Chief Justice John Roberts to decide on whether to allow motions on subpoenas for witnesses and documents.

The Senate just voted to kill the 10th amendment proposed to the rules for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. This amendment dealt with the amount of time allotted for written motions and responses during the trial.

That amendment was – like the previous nine – defeated, but this one wasn’t completely on party lines: It went down 52-48. Maine Sen. Susan Collins was the lone Republican to cross party lines and vote with the Democrats.

Senators were definitely at the end of their rope during the debate over the ninth proposed amendment to the rules of the impeachment trial. The corner of the chamber has become a popular spot on both sides for congregating, pacing and quiet conversations.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, huddled while House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler was talking, and Sen. Bernie Sanders wound up there pacing back and forth.

Several senators are struggling to keep their eyes open, including Gillibrand.

The managers had to find a way to pass the time too. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California, grabbed the special badge for the impeachment trial from a House Judiciary Committee aide to inspect it.

Sens. Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, sat intently listening to Nadler, and did not react when he accused Republicans of a cover up with their votes today.

Nadler also did not react when President Donald Trump’s legal team attacked him by name. He took notes while they criticized him, staring straight ahead at his aides across the table.

The Senate killed another proposed amendment to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed rules for the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, this one to force votes on witnesses and documents.

The amendment died on party lines, 53-47.

The amendment would have forced a vote of the Senate on any motion to subpoena witnesses and documents. The current proposed rules have a procedural vote that must pass before any actual vote on subpoenas for witnesses and documents.

The Senate voted 53-47 along party lines to kill a proposal from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that would have issued a subpoena for President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton’s testimony.

Bolton has said he would testify if subpoenaed in the trial, and that still may come if a majority of senators vote to issue a subpoena later on in the trial. The amendment discussed Wednesday would have inserted the subpoena into the rules of the trial itself.

Schumer has asked for eight amendments to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed rules for the impeachment trial and all have been defeated on party lines.

The Senate is now debating a ninth amendment, which requires a vote of the Senate on any motion to subpoena witnesses and documents. The current proposed rules have a procedural vote that must pass before any actual vote on subpoenas for witnesses and documents.

Chief Justice John Roberts admonished the House impeachment managers and President Donald Trump’s legal team after a feisty exchange in the early morning hours.

“I think it is appropriate for me to admonish both the House managers and the President’s counsel in equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Roberts said. “One reason it has earned that title is because its members avoid speaking in a manner and using language that is not conducive to civil discourse.”

Roberts had just listened to the impeachment manager and Trump’s legal team rip into each other after House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler made the case for issuing a subpoena for former national security adviser John Bolton’s testimony.

During that argument, Nadler accused Republican senators of “voting for a coverup” by killing amendments for documents and testimony of additional witnesses.

“So far, I’m sad to say, I see a lot of senators voting for a coverup. Voting to deny witnesses and obviously a treacherous vote,” Nadler said. “A vote against an honest consideration of the evidence against the President. A vote against an honest trial. A vote against the United States.”

That led to White House counsel Pat Cipollone to fire back at Nadler, saying, “The only one who should be embarrassed, Mr. Nadler, is you. For the way you addressed this body. This is the United States Senate. You’re not in charge here.”

Roberts said that kind of exchange was not appropriate and the legal teams need to be on their best behavior.

“I think those addressing the Senate should remember where they are,” Roberts said.

Watch moment here:

White House counsel Pat Cipollone chastised House impeachment manager Jerry Nadler for his argument in favor of former national security adviser John Bolton’s testimony, during which Nadler repeatedly accused Senate Republicans of participating in a coverup if they denied Democratic requests for witnesses.

Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, harangued the Senate just after midnight on Wednesday on multiple occasions, saying, “The Senate is on trial in the eyes of the American people” and voting in favor of restricting witnesses was akin to being “complicit in the President’s coverup.”

“Will you vote to allow all of the evidence to be presented here? Or will you betray your pledge to be impartial juror?” Nadler said. “Will you bring Bolton here and permit us to present you with the entire record of the President’s misconduct? Or choose to be complicit in the President’s cover up.”

“So far, I’m sad to say, I see a lot of senators voting for a coverup. Voting to deny witnesses and obviously a treacherous vote. A vote against an honest consideration of the evidence against the President. A vote against an honest trial. A vote against the United States.”

That led Cipollone to say Nadler owed the Senate an apology.

“We have been respectful of the Senate. We have made our arguments to you. And you don’t deserve, and we don’t deserve, what just happened,” Cipollone said. “Mr. Nadler came up here and made false allegations against our team, he made false allegations against all of you. He accused you of a cover up. He’s been making false allegations against the President.”

“The only one who should be embarrassed, Mr. Nadler, is you. For the way you addressed this body. This is the United States Senate. You’re not in charge here.”

Jay Sekulow, another one of Trump’s attorneys, continued the onslaught against Nadler.

“We hopefully are closing the proceedings. Not on a high note,” Sekulow said. “’Only guilty people try to hide evidence’? So I guess when President Obama instructed the attorney general to not give information, he was guilty of a crime. 

“That’s the way it works, Mr. Nadler? Is that the way the United States Constitution works? Because that’s not the way it was written. That’s is not the way it is interpreted. And there’s not the way the American people should have to live. I’ll tell you what’s treacherous – coming to the floor of Senate and say, ‘Executive privilege and other non-sense.’ ”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer offered his eighth amendment to the proposed rules for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial: Issuing a subpoena for former national security adviser John Bolton.

Bolton is seen as perhaps the most important person who has not yet been heard from in the impeachment investigation into Trump’s dealings in Ukraine. He’s a central figure who had been present for many of the events that are crucial to the investigation, but did not comply with a subpoena to testify in the House investigation.

Bolton, earlier this month, said he would testify if subpoenaed in the Senate impeachment trial.

“He stated his willingness to testify in the trial,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler, a Democrat who is one of the House impeachment managers. “He’s prepared to testify. He says he is relevant evidence not disclosed to the public.”

The Senate killed the seventh proposed amendment to the proposed rules to President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. This amendment had to do with rules on how evidence is handled during the trial. The amendment died on a party line 53-47 vote.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has previously offered six amendments, all of which have died on 53-47 votes.

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, explained the seventh proposed amendment by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as an attempt to close a “gaping hole” in the proposed rules for the trial.

Schiff said the proposed rules for the trial currently allow President Donald Trump’s team to “cherry pick documents he has refused to produce to the House, and attempt to admit them into evidence here. That would enable the President to use his obstruction not only as a shield to his misconduct but also as a sword in his defense.”

“The amendment addresses that issue by providing that if any party seeks to admit, for the first time, here information that was previously subject to subpoena, that party must do a simple and fair thing,” Schiff said. “It must provide the opposing party all of the other documents responsive to the subpoena. That is how the law works in America.”

Schiff was speaking at the beginning of the latest block of debate over a proposed amendment. The six previous amendments proposed by Schumer have all been killed on party lines, 53-47.

Schiff said the amendment would also require proper handling of confidential and classified information.

Trump’s legal team objected to the amendment, with Patrick Philbin, deputy counsel to the President, arguing that the subpoenas issued by the House during the impeachment inquiry were not duly authorized. Philbin argued that because the House began its investigation without holding a full vote authorizing the inquiry, the subpoenas that the administration ignored were not authorized correctly.

“The first 23 subpoenas, at a minimum, that the House committees issued were all unauthorized and that is why the Trump administration did not respond to them and did not comply with them,” he said.

Watch here:

The Senate killed the sixth proposed amendment to the impeachment trial rules, once again on a party line vote of 53-47.

The Senate is now considering a seventh amendment from Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. This one would require that each side must provide the other any evidence that is gathered from a duly authorized subpoena. The amendment would apply to any evidence that is already not a part of the collection of evidence gathered by House investigators during the impeachment inquiry.

The aim is to avoid the selective admission of evidence and for the proper handling of classified and confidential material, according to Schumer’s office.

Former Florida attorney general and White House adviser Pam Bondi appeared for the first time on President Donald Trump’s behalf at the Senate trial late Tuesday evening, during the debate over an amendment to subpoena White House budget officials Michael Duffey and Robert Blair. 

She corrected House managers, saying Duffey didn’t come to the Office of Management and Budget from a state job, but instead that he had been a deputy chief of staff at the Department of Defense. “Big difference there,” she said. 

She also claimed that the House committees would not allow agency counsel to appear with Duffey or Blair, which Schiff countered during remarks immediately after. 

She invoked dramatic language, saying the hypocrisy of House Democrats “is astounding,” that they “threw due process and fundamental fairness out the window,” lamenting “secret bunker hearings” during the House impeachment inquiry and called House proceedings a “one-sided circus.”

The Senate is now voting on whether to issue subpoenas to Robert Blair – a senior aide to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney – and Michael Duffey – the Office of Management and Budget associate director for national security programs. The vote is the sixth amendment proposed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, all of which have been defeated on party line votes.

The Senate voted on party lines to kill Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s fifth amendment to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed rules for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. The amendment would have subpoenaed the Defense Department for documents related to the Ukraine scandal and was defeated on a party line vote of 53-47.

The Senate is now debating a sixth Schumer amendment, which would issue subpoenas to Robert Blair – a senior aide to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney – and Michael Duffey – the Office of Management and Budget associate director for national security programs.

The Senate is now voting on Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s fifth amendment to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed rules for the trial. This one would issue a subpoena for Ukraine documents from the Department of Defense. All the other amendments have been defeated on party lines, 53-47.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s fifth proposed amendment is to subpoena a series of documents from the Department of Defense related to the Ukraine scandal.

The proposal signaled that the Senate appears to be moving forward without a resolution on how long tonight’s deliberations will go. More talks are possible, but debate on the amendments will continue.

There will be two hours of debate on the latest amendment – one house for the House impeachment managers and one house for Trump’s legal team.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday night pitched the idea of stacking the votes on amendments offered by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the hopes of speeding up the debate on Democratic proposals to change the proposed rules of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

But Schumer refused to budge, saying that he wants to make senators vote on each and every one of his amendments – though he did say he’s willing to end debate for the night and pick up the debate on Wednesday.

A quorum vote was then held, essentially a roll call that became a timeout for the two leaders to discuss the issue with each other. CNN’s Ted Barrett said the quorum call may give the leaders a little time to discuss a path forward.

Schumer said there are multiple amendments that he wants to propose, most of which are meant to compel testimony or documents from Trump administration officials or government agencies. Each of those amendments comes with an hour for Democratic House impeachment managers to make their case, another hour for Trump’s legal team to offer a rebuttal and then additional time for the House team to respond.

If no deal is reached, the amendment process could drag deep into the night. Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican who is close to McConnell, told CNN earlier that McConnell wants to get done with the vote on the impeachment trial’s rules by Tuesday night and start on opening statements on Wednesday.

The Senate voted to table, or kill, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s amendment that was about a subpoena to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. The vote was 53-47, along party lines.

House impeachment manager Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, referenced one of his home borough of Brooklyn’s favorite sons when closing out his argument for why the Senate must subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

Jeffries was responding to Trump lawyer Jeff Sekulow asking the Senate, “Why are we here?” earlier in the day.

“We are here, sir, because President Trump abused his power and then he tried to cover it up,” Jeffries said. “And we are here, sir, to follow the facts, follow the law, be guided by the Constitution, and present the truth to the American people.”

He concluded with: “That is why we are here, Mr. Sekulow. And if you don’t know, now you know” – the last bit being a lyric from The Notorious B.I.G. song, “Juicy.”

Michael Purpura, White House deputy counsel, argued against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s amendment to subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney by saying it’s not the Senate’s job to track down witnesses.

“The time for the House managers to bring their case is now,” Purpura said. “They had their chance to develop their evidence before they sent the articles of impeachment to this chamber. This chamber’s role is not to do the House’s job for it.”

Schumer is proposing the Senate subpoena Mulvaney, who Democrats believe is a central figure to the events that led to President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Mulvaney is Trump’s top adviser and refused to comply with a House subpoena for a closed-door deposition in November.

Mulvaney dramatically confirmed in October that Trump froze nearly $400 million in US security aid to Ukraine partially to pressure the country into investigating Democrats – and proceeded hours later to deny having said so.

“That’s why we held up the money,” Mulvaney said after listing the 2016-related investigation and Trump’s broader concerns about corruption in Ukraine, later adding, “Get over it.”

“We do that all the time with foreign policy,” Mulvaney said of the influence of politics in foreign policy.

Sen. Roy Blunt, who is a close ally of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said he believes McConnell won’t want to leave Tuesday night without the Senate approving the resolution setting the rules of the trial.

Blunt could not predict how much longer the debate will go, or how many more amendments Democrats will want to offer, but noted “Democrats are going into less details” with each new amendment. 

“It would be helpful to have the rule vote tonight. I’m pretty confident that’s what the leader will want to do,” he said.

Blunt criticized the House Democrats’ performance on the floor.   

“It seems to me they’ve already presented their case about three times already and apparently we’re going to hear it two or three times tonight,” Blunt said. “They may very well think that with this case and this repetition, this is the last time that the general public will pay any attention and they better drive this home as dramatically as they can.” 

Asked if he thought President Donald Trump had done anything wrong in his interactions with Ukraine, Blunt said, “That’s not really the question we’re going to vote on.”

A senior White House official tells CNN’s Jim Acosta that President Donald Trump received “periodic” updates from the impeachment team throughout the day and was pleased with the attorneys’ performance as the trial began in the Senate.

The official said the White House is prepared for the possibility of witnesses, such as John Bolton, testifying in a closed setting. That option is being discussed at the White House and up on Capitol Hill. It’s not clear yet, the official cautioned, whether a closed door option would come to pass. 

Just before dinner this evening, the mood in the Senate chamber appeared to be split between senators who are itching to get out of their seats — like Republican Sen. Joni Ernst who physically stood up at one point to stretch her legs — and those still taking careful notes, shuffling through papers and looking ahead engaged – like Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander, Cory Gardner and Lisa Murkowski, among others.

Sen. John Hoeven, a Republican from North Dakota, was seen moving side to side looking for a comfortable position. Sen. James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, had his hands intertwined behind his head stretching his neck. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, fidgeted with his watch and continued to look down at least four times in just a short period, while kicking his legs straight out ahead of him.

Side conversations appear to be growing from fleeting whispers to quiet conversations, some leading to laughs. Ernst and Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, who are sitting diagonally from each other, were seen chatting and Ernst showed him something on her notebook. Sens. Rick Scott and Rob Portman continued to talk back and forth multiple times. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, laughed at something Sen. John Barasso, a Republican from Wyoming, whispered in his ear, and Barasso also spent time chatting with Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, his neighbor on the other side.

Sen. David Perdue, a Republican from Georgia, paused from whispering to Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, to take a piece of what looked like a pack of green spearmint gum off of Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy’s desk. Perdue shoved one piece of gum in his mouth and placed the rest of it back.

After Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced a 30-minute recess for dinner, most senators ran for the door, like bored students on the last day of school. Ernst let out a large “oh my gosh” as she popped up out of her seat looking over in Sullivan’s direction. Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, also let out a deep breath as he walked alone toward the exit.

But Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, did not rush out and remained on the floor. The two key GOP senators were seen huddling with Sen. John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, for several minutes.

Democratic House manager Hakeem Jeffries argued his support for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s amendment to subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and described the importance of witness testimony at a trial.

“The Constitution, our democracy, the Senate, the President and, most importantly, the American people deserve a fair trial. A fair trial requires witnesses in order to provide the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That is why this amendment should be adopted,” he said.

He went on to claim that Trump is “personally responsible for depriving the Senate of information important to consider in this trial.”

The Senate trial has returned from its break. They’re debating Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s fourth amendment, which is about subpoenaing acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

It’s not clear how many amendments Schumer could offer to the proposed trial rules.

At the weekly Republican lunch today, just before the historic impeachment trial of President Trump began, multiple senators had concerns to share with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.  

The previous night, McConnell had introduced his resolution laying out the rules for how the trial would unfold. Under McConnell’s plan, opening statements would be condensed into just two calendar days, drawing outrage from Democrats who argued McConnell was rushing the trial and trying to push the debate into the middle of the night when most Americans would be asleep. 

It turns out that it wasn’t just Democrats who were unhappy with McConnell. At the lunch multiple Republicans argued for a change to the rules, according to sources familiar with who spoke to CNN.

Read the full story here.

Two Democratic senators who spoke with Sen. Chuck Schumer told me they think there could be amendments for subpoenas for each of the four witnesses they’ve asked for.

They are next turning to acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, but Schumer also has wanted to subpoena President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, White House aide Robert Blair and Michael Duffey, a Trump appointee who served in the Office of Management and Budget.

It’s possible the managers may want amendments, too.

Schumer’s aide said “TBD” when asked how many more amendments or if that’s their strategy.

The Senate just went to recess following a debate over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s trial rules.

If you’re just tuning in, here’s what you need to know:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just asked for a 30-minute break before they consider Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s next proposed amendment.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial agreed. The Senate is now in recess.

When they come back, the Senate will hear debate on Schumer’s fourth amendment.

The Senate just voted along party lines — 53-47— to table the third amendment introduced by Democrat Chuck Schumer.

The first two amendments were also tabled.

Schumer is now introducing another amendment to subpoena acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

President Donald Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow responded to remarks from military veteran and House impeachment manager Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colorado, about pauses on foreign aid, noting that aid provided to Ukraine by the Trump administration “included lethal weapons” that were not provided by “the previous administration.”

“The suggestion that the Ukraine failed to get any equipment is false. … There was no lack of equipment due to the temporary pause of its future funding,” he said, quoting a Ukrainian deputy minister of defense who oversaw the US aid shipment and said they did not notice any change.

“The made up narrative that security assistance was conditioned on Ukraine taking some action on investigation is further disproved by the straightforward fact that the aid was delivered on September 11, 2019, without Ukraine taking any action on any investigation,” he said, adding that aid to Egypt was withheld during the Obama administration in 2013.

“Sounds like this may be a practice of a number of administrations,” he said.

He noted other instances of withheld aid, including Afghanistan in 2019 over concerns of government corruption, and a June 2019 pause in aid to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala regarding immigration. 

He noted former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch’s testimony that Ukraine “policy actually got stronger” during the Trump administration.

“This all supposedly started because of a whistleblower,” he said, shaking his head as he closed his binder and left the podium.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just asked to table Sen. Chuck Schumer’s third amendment to the proposed trial rules — an amendment that would subpoena documents from the Office of Budget and Management.

McConnell moved to table Schumer’s first two amendments, which requested more subpoena documents. Both of those motions passed on party lines.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave senators a brief rundown of what to expect following the debate on the third amendment.

He reminded senators that he would be moving to table the amendment following the debate.

“And it is important to remember, both the evidence and witnesses are addressed in the underlying resolution,” the Kentucky Republican said.

Both parties will have two hours to argue the amendment, which was introduced by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The amendment calls on the Senate to subpoena key documents from the Office of Budget and Management.

Once the debate is over, McConnell said they will vote on the amendment, then take a 30-minute recess for dinner.

The Senate voted along party lines to table Sen. Chuck Schumer’s second amendment to Mitch McConnell’s resolution.

The vote was 53 Republicans in favor and 47 Democrats against tabling the amendment.

Schumer is now introducing a third amendment to subpoena relevant documents from the Office of Management and Budget.

By 5:30 p.m. ET, the length of the first day was wearing on the senators in the chamber. There were lots of yawns and sleepy looks.

Sen. Martha McSally had a blanket over her lap. Sen. Dan Sullivan let loose a big yawn. At one point, both Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Sen. Jim Risch appeared to have their eyes closed, but Gillibrand opened them abruptly and sat up straight in her chair.

Others looked like bored students in a particularly long lecture. Sen. Tom Cotton absent-mindedly clicked his retractable pen for about a minute, before Sen. Joni Ernst turned to look at him and he stopped. Sen. Amy Klobuchar was chewing a piece of gum. Sen. Tim Scott scribbled on a note card and handed it to Sen. Ben Sasse, who read it, leaned into Scott’s ear, and began whispering. Scott silently laughed at whatever Sasse told him.

One of the attorneys for the House Democratic managers, sitting at the table across from the managers, was Daniel Goldman, who was the lead counsel for the House Intelligence Committee during its impeachment hearings.

House Manager Rep. Val Demings, during her arguments, prompted for a video of Goldman’s questioning of former acting ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor to be played. When Goldman’s voice boomed out of the speakers at the start of the video, the present Goldman sat up with a bit of a start.

The House impeachment managers and Trump’s legal team just finished debating a second amendment to the proposed trial rules. The amendment — introduced by Sen. Chuck Schumer — would allow for the subpoena of State Department documents.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asked to table the amendment. They’re voting on that now.

Sen. Mike Braun, a Republican from Indiana, told reporters that many Republicans didn’t read through the resolution closely last night — so at the GOP lunch today there was a lot of discussion surrounding the amount of time for opening arguments and the handling of evidence already laid out from the House. 

“I think that most of us didn’t really have time to really look at the resolution closely and when we did, we thought that submitting evidence from House proceedings would be a good thing,” he said. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made some key last minute changes to the Senate trial organizing resolution today, including that evidence from the House would be submitted into the trial record unless there’s a vote to oppose, and time for opening arguments would be extended from two days to three. 

In addition to Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who voiced support for witnesses, Braun felt there was “pretty broad agreement” on the idea that “when it came to any information that any evidence has already been heard in the House that just gets accepted into the record.”  

Braun also said that while originally he thought it would be a good idea to tough it out and sit through opening arguments in a compressed timeline – by 5:30 p.m. today he said: “I don’t think I’d be as apt to say I could sit through 12 to 14 hours or whatever that might be.”

He added that he felt that way, in particular, because the subject matter “we’ve all heard” and it feels like it’s going “slowly” at this point.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone briefly spoke on the Senate Floor following House manager Val Demings, responding to Adam Schiff’s assertion that he’d call former White House national security adviser John Bolton to testify in the Senate.

He said that issuing a subpoena for Bolton is “not right” since the House forwent their opportunity to call him to testify during their trial.

Cipollone referenced a letter from Bolton and Charles Kupperman’s lawyer dated Nov. 8 regarding subpoenas for Bolton and Kupperman’s testimony.

The House, Cipollone said, “never subpoenaed Ambassador Bolton, … and they withdrew the subpoena for Charles Kupperman. And they ask you to issue a subpoena for John Bolton. It’s not right,” he said

He yielded the remainder of his time to the President’s outside counsel, Jay Sekulow.

Sen. Mazie Hirono, a Democrat from Hawaii, blasted the President’s legal team and their arguments during the break,

Referring to Trump’s defense team, she told reporters:

Asked how she’s spending her time during the trial so far, Hirono replied that she’s listening very carefully and taking notes.

We’re almost five hours into the first earnest day of the Senate impeachment trial. House impeachment managers, who are prosecuting the case against Trump’s case, and the President’s defense team have been debating the proposed rules for the trial.

If you need to catch up on all the faces on the Senate floor, here’s your annotated run down:

Many senators are taking notes at their desks while Democratic House manager Val Demings is speaking.

It’s unclear if they’re taking trial notes or writing on an unrelated topic.

While the sergeant at arms announces at the start of each day that senators face the “pain of imprisonment” for talking during the trial, senators are managing to sneak quick comments in with a hand over their mouths as they lean in to their neighbors.  

Florida Rep. Val Demings, one of the Democratic House managers, is now highlighting new information that came to light last week from Lev Parnas, the Soviet-born businessman who worked with Rudy Giuliani on the Ukraine pressure campaign. 

Arguing that the Senate should subpoena the State Department, Demings pointed to a February 2019 text message where Giuliani told Republican lawyer Victoria Toensing that he was going to talk to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about removing the US ambassador to Ukraine. (Trump later removed the diplomat, Marie Yovanovitch, from her post, amid a flurry of public allegations from Giuliani and his allies in conservative media, who falsely accused Yovanovitch of being an anti-Trump partisan.) 

House investigators only got those text messages last week, after Parnas complied with a months-old subpoena. Parnas was indicted in October on campaign finance charges, and recently secured approval from a judge to share the documents.

Demings also aired a clip of Parnas’ interview with MSNBC where he talked about the pressure campaign. Parnas also sat down for a wide-ranging interview with CNN, and said he tried to intimidate Ukrainian officials at the direction of Giuliani and Trump.

Rep. Val Demings, one of the Democratic managers, wasted no time while arguing in favor of subpoenaing the State Department, by highlighting some of the most damning text messages that were uncovered during the House impeachment inquiry.

The Trump administration defied the subpoenas but some of the witnesses who cooperated brought their own documents. One of those witnesses was former US envoy for Ukraine Kurt Volker, who provided his text messages to Congress early in the inquiry.

One of the most shocking texts, between Volker and the top US diplomat in Ukraine Bill Taylor, seemed to confirm that the Trump administration was withholding nearly $400 million in US military aid from Ukraine, exchange for political favors for Trump.

“As I said on the phone, I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,” Taylor texted Volker on Sept. 9, in a group chat that also included US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, another key player.

When Taylor testified publicly in November, he said, “The Ukrainians did not owe President Trump anything and holding up security assistance for domestic political gain was crazy, as I had said in my text message to Ambassadors Sondland and Volker.”

Why this matters: Demings and the other Democratic House managers argued today that the emails that were obtained during the impeachment inquiry make it clear that there is more relevant information out there, but the Trump administration is blocking it.

The Senate already voted along party lines to kill a Democratic amendment to subpoena the White House, and will likely kill the proposed State Department subpoena as well. Republicans have stayed united to oppose any subpoenas for new witnesses or documents at this point, though some of the more moderate Republicans say they’re open to subpoenas later in the process.

Democratic House manager Val Demings argued today for the release of documents from the State Department.

Moments ago, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced an amendment to subpoena the documents.

Demings said Democratic House managers strongly support the amendment.

“They would help complete our understanding of how the President’s scheme unfolded in realtime. They would support the conclusion that senior Ukrainian officials understood the corrupt nature of President Trump’s demand and they would further expose the extent to which Secretary Pompeo and Mick Mulvaney and other senior Trump officials were aware of the President’s plot and helped carry it out. We are not talking about a burdensome number of documents,” she said.

Demings continued: “We are talking about a specific, discrete set of materials held by the State Department. Documents that the state department has already collected in response to our subpoena, but has never produced. We know that these materials exist. We know that they are relevant, and we know the President is desperately trying to conceal them.”

There are signs senators are getting restless — or that the Senate is remarkably like seventh grade.

Sens. Tim Scott and Ben Sasse are digging into Sasse’s stash of candy – jawbreakers – whispering to each other and trading notes back and forth. At one point, Sen. Bill Cassidy stopped his note-taking to pass a note to Sasse, who added something to it and passed it on to Scott. 

When House Manager Adam Schiff said on the floor, “Let’s get this trial started, shall we?” he looked directly at White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who briefly met his gaze, then looked away.

Senators are also acutely aware of the alphabetical order when voting, standing up before their name is called.

There was also visitors from the House side: Reps. Mark Meadows, Lee Zeldin and Louie Gohmert all entered the chamber and watched from the back.

There are rumors that some senators have gone onto the floor wearing Apple watches. It’s possible that Senator Tim Scott is wearing one, though not completely clear from our vantage point.

The Senate trial has returned from its break. They’re debating Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s second amendment, which is about subpoenaing the State Department. 

It’s not clear how many amendments Schumer could offer to the proposed trial rules.

Two sources in communication with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell say he wants this trial done in about 10 days. The way this schedule is laid out, it makes clear that goal is possible.

In his floor speech earlier today, McConnell warned about subpoenas for witnesses and documents, saying that “pursuing those witnesses” sought by Democrats “could indefinitely delay the Senate trial.”

If each side uses all 24 hours for opening arguments side, here’s how the schedule could play out:

Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, just issued a statement on the impeachment trial and hinted some support for a motion on witnesses.

A key line from the statement indicates it is “likely” that she will support a motion to subpoena witnesses later in the trial after both sides present their cases.

“As I said last week, while I need to hear the case argued and the questions answered, I anticipate that I would conclude that having additional information would be helpful.  It is likely that I would support a motion to subpoena witnesses at that point in the trial just as I did in 1999,” Collins said in the statement.

Here’s the rest of her statement:

“The organizing resolution presented to the Senate today provides for a vote on whether to subpoena witnesses and documents at the conclusion of questions by Senators. This is the same point at which the Senate voted on witnesses and documents during the 1999 Clinton impeachment trial. In keeping with the model used in President Clinton’s trial, prior to hearing the case and the answers to Senators’ questions, I will vote to table any attempts by either side to subpoena documents or witnesses before that stage in the trial.

After hearing the case and asking questions, Senators will be able to make an informed judgement about what is in dispute, what is important, and what remains relevant to the underlying issues. That is one of the reasons why all 100 Senators agreed to this sequence during the Clinton trial.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just asked for a 10-minute break before debating Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s second amendment.

Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial, granted the request.

The Senate just voted on a motion to table Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s first amendment to the proposed trial rules. That amendment requests a subpoena for certain White House documents.

The amendment was tabled on a party line vote.

Schumer’s office has released his second amendment — this one is on subpoenaing the State Department. 

“The second amendment Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer will force a vote on during today’s impeachment trial proceedings will be for the Senate to subpoena certain Department of State documents and records,” his office said.

The motion to table House Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s first amendment calling for White House documents to be subpoenaed has passed.

The vote in favor was along party lines — 53 Republicans voted in favor, 47 Democrats voted against tabling the motion.

Democrats are now introducing a second amendment calling for the subpoena of documents and records from the State Department.

During the brief recess prior to debate on the Schumer amendment, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was engaged in conversation with a group of GOP senators, including Lamar Alexander, Todd Young, Mike Rounds, Roger Wicker and John Cornyn.

At one point, White House counsel Pat Cipollone approached the group — which at that point consisted of McConnell, Cornyn, Alexander and Tom Cotton — and began talking with them. Cipollone later wandered around the chamber, shaking hands with and saying hello to various members as he went. 

After the proceedings reconvened, senators took their seats. While McConnell sat straight back in his chair, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer slouched in his, at some points leaning his head into his hand. As House managers Adam Schiff and then Zoe Lofgren spoke, it was mostly quiet in the chamber apart from the rustling of papers as senators flipped through binders or took notes. Sen. Ted Cruz held what appeared to be a yellow highlighter in his mouth as he flipped through documents on his desk, then used the highlighter to make annotations. 

At one point, Sen. Tim Scott popped a piece of gum into his mouth, and Cornyn leaned over to Sen. John Barrasso to whisper a comment.

Senate pages have been coming in and out of the floor as the proceedings go on to refill glasses of water on senators’ desks and occasionally to bring in a note or a file folder.

During the proceedings, members of the President’s defense team as well as the House managers team could be seen whispering back and forth at the tables they are seated at. The House managers team could also be seen passing notes at their table. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just asked for a vote to table Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s amendment.

The senators are voting now.

Patrick Philbin, deputy counsel to the President, took the Senate floor to reiterate much of what White House counsel Pat Cipollone said during his remarks earlier this afternoon, going after Democrats’ House impeachment process and arguing against witnesses in the Senate trial.

These were Philbin’s first public comments on behalf of President Trump. 

“First thing they have done is to say, ‘Well, actually, we need more evidence. We’re not ready to present our case… We don’t have the evidence we need to support our case.’ This is stunning. It’s a stunning admission of the inadequate and broken process that the House Democrats ran… It’s stunning that they don’t have the evidence they need to present their case and that they don’t really have a case,” Philbin said.

Calling the process “broken,” Philbin claimed that Democrats are “afraid to make a presentation based on the record that they compiled.”

He explained that the subpoena to the White House was invalid because it was “issued without authorization.” Philbin said it is “technically true witnesses didn’t assert executive privilege,” moving on to quote from former US Attorney General Janet Reno explaining that senior advisers are immune from congressional compulsion, which, he said, is based on the same principles of executive privilege.

Philbin argued that the outcome in the House was predetermined.

“The process in the House was one-sided,” he said, recounting “secret hearings in the basement” and a second round of hearings in public “where, again, they locked the President out.”

“They had a predetermined outcome there, ‘cause it was all one-sided. And for him to lecture this body now on what a fair process would be takes some gall,” Philbin said.

Senators are still finding ways to communicate, despite decorum guidelines clearly stating they are not permitted to speak.

Sen. Mark Warner was spotted actually whispering to his neighbor. Sen. Tim Kaine attempted to be more discreet and passed a note via a chamber staffer.

Kaine, sitting with his glasses resting in the middle of his forehead, waved his pointer finger in the air, which brought a staffer in the chamber over to his desk. He handed her a folded piece of paper, she then zig-zagged around the chamber and passed it to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Schumer put on his glasses and appeared to read through the paper; he then handed it to his aide who filed it away in a folder.

On the first 15-minute break in the impeachment trial, some senators appeared to be relaxed, and even playful. Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, James Risch, Roy Blunt, Lamar Alexander and Lindsey Graham chatted for a good amount of time on the Senate floor, laughing and in good spirits.

At one point, Murkowski playfully pretended to punch Graham in the chest and said, “WHACK.” Risch cracked up.

Other GOP senators immediately rushed over to shake hands with some of Trump’s defense team, including Sen. Richard Shelby and Tom Cotton who went up to attorney Jay Sekulow. Additional members chatted with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

Even though it’s day one, some senators appear to already be getting restless. Sens. Tim Scott, Ben Sasse, Cotton and Graham were looking all around the room, at some points staring directly into the press gallery. Others remained very focused, like Sens. John Cornyn and John Thune, who kept their eyes directly ahead locked with each presenter.

A dozen or so senators also kept their head down taking notes, like Susan Collins, Cory Gardner, Joni Ernst, Marco Rubio, Chuck Grassley and Chris Coons among others.

The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump — only the third impeachment trial in US history — kicked off in earnest today. While there were procedural moves in the trial last week, today marked the first serious day of trial.

If you’re just reading in, here’s what you need to know:

Former Sen. Jeff Flake was in the gallery of the Senate chamber today watching a bit of the trial.

The former Arizona lawmaker was in town and said he thought he would come by and see history.

House manager Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California, laid out the need for documents from the White House during her argument on the Senate floor today.

She argued that some of the documents would shed light on the freeze on US military aid to Ukraine.

“Witness testimony and public reporting make clear that the White House has a significant body of documents that relate to these key aspects of the President’s scheme. Some of the documents outline the planning of the President’s freeze,” Lofgren said.

As the proceedings in the Senate impeachment trial continue on, senators appear a bit more restless than they were last week during the ceremonially swearing in.

Many of the members have turned to writing notes as a way to keep busy during the trial. Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah who has worked closely with Leader Mitch McConnell and the President on preparations for the trial, wrote at a furious pace. A Constitutional lawyer, Lee seemed enthralled with the scene, scribbling notes and straining to ensure he could see all of the exhibits Rep. Adam Schiff referenced. There were a few video clips that played where most of the chamber almost seemed confused at first about where the videos coming from. 

Sen. Cory Gardner, up for re-election in 2020, also scribbled down notes. Next to him, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the former chairman of the Judiciary Committee, glanced over repeatedly almost as if he was not quite sure what Gardner was jotting down so quickly. 

McConnell, meanwhile, was stone faced. He looked forward at Schiff, listening intently with his hands folded in his lap.

The Democratic House managers have argued all day that President Trump obstructed Congress and is still engaged in a cover-up by preventing his senior aides from testifying in the House and blocking key documents.

During the House impeachment inquiry, the Trump administration ignored subpoenas that were sent to:  

Check out CNN’s Impeachment Tracker for a full breakdown of the witnesses who did – and didn’t – testify in the House impeachment inquiry, and a list of all the subpoenas that were fulfilled and ignored.

Calling the House’s impeachment inquiry unfair to the President, White House counsel Pat Cipollone made a false claim about the closed-door House committee hearings at which witnesses were initially questioned.

The hearings were held in a secure room known as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or “SCIF.”

“Not even Mr. Schiff’s Republican colleagues were allowed into the SCIF,” Cipollone said, referring to House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, who is also the Democrats’ lead impeachment manager.

Facts First: As Schiff noted in his response to Cipollone, the 48 Republican members of the three committees holding the closed-door hearings — Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight — were indeed allowed into the SCIF, and they were given equal time to question witnesses.

Schiff said he would not suggest “Mr. Cipollone would deliberately make a false statement,” but he said, “I will tell you this: He’s mistaken. He’s mistaken.” He added that Republicans were not only allowed in but “more than that: they got the same time we did.”

Cipollone might have been referring to an October stunt in which Republicans who were not members of any of the three committees, along with some Republicans who were members, stormed the room to make a political point; the non-members were not allowed to be there, and they eventually left after causing a delay. But the members were allowed to be full participants in the proceedings.

Democrats were given an hour to argue for an amendment introduced by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

House manager Zoe Lofgren of California said they backed the amendment.

“The House managers strongly support Senator Schumer’s amendment, which would ensure a fair legitimate trial based on a full evidentiary record,” she said.

What we know: The amendment requests the Senate subpoena the White House for “certain documents and records.”

Sen. Patrick Leahy told CNN that he did not view the changes Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made to the impeachment rules resolution as significant, saying there were still key breaks with President Clinton’s trial.

After Mitch McConnell made two changes to his organizing resolution, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement the “real test” will be if other Republicans pressure McConnell to allow witnesses and documents.

Here’s Schumer’s statement:

“The public is understanding how unfair Senator McConnell’s trial rules are and Republican Senators are beginning to tell him to change them. The real test will be if they pressure Senator McConnell to allow witnesses and documents. 
“For all of the name-calling and fingerprinting from the president’s counsel, we did not hear a single argument on the merits about why there should not be the documents and witnesses we requested in this trial.”

The Senate trial has resumed to debate a resolution setting the rules for the trial.

After remarks from Adam Schiff and Jay Sekulow, White House counsel Pat Cipollone again spoke on the Senate floor, where he railed against Schiff and the House impeachment proceedings and argued against witnesses in a Senate trial.

An impassioned Cipollone lamented that President Donald Trump was given a “minimum of due process” during House impeachment proceedings. 

“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.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just requested a 15-minute break before debate over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s amendment.

Supreme Court Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial, agreed.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone said that the Trump team requested documents from House Intel Chair Adam Schiff related to the whistleblower.

What’s this all about: During the House impeachment inquiry, Schiff was forced to clarify comments he made that his committee had not spoken directly with a whistleblower after his office acknowledged in October it had been in contact with the whistleblower before the complaint over President Donald Trump’s conversation with the leader of Ukraine was filed.

President Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, spoke on the Senate floor during the impeachment trial, criticizing House impeachment manager Adam Schiff and voicing support for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s impeachment resolution.

Sekulow took issue in particular for what he saw as Schiff indicating that “courts have no role, privileges don’t apply, what happened in the past we should just ignore.”

Sekulow also criticized how Schiff described the defense of the Trump legal team, saying it’s “not the first time Mr. Schiff has put words into transcripts that did not exist.”

“Believe me, what is taking place in these proceedings is not to be confused with due process. Because due process demands, and our constitution requires, that fundamental fairness and due process … is designed to protect the person accused,” Sekulow said.

Sekulow said that Democrats sought to target Trump over his interactions with Ukraine after the Russia investigation didn’t work in their favor.

“When the Russia investigation failed, it devolved into the Ukraine,” he said.

Sekulow also defended Trump’s use of executive privilege and criticized the way the Democrats have been conducting impeachment proceedings.

“We’re acting as if the courts are an improper venue to determine constitutional issues of this magnitude? That is why we have courts. That is why we have a federal judiciary,” he said.”

“As we proceed in the days ahead, we will lay out our case. We’re going to put forward to the American people, but more importantly, for the constitution’s sake, what’s taking place here. But this idea we should ignore what has taken place over the last three years is outrageous,” Sekulow remarked.

He continued: “We believe what Senator McConnell’s put forward provides due process, allows the proceedings to move forward in an orderly fashion.”

Sekulow took aim at Democrats for delaying the delivery of the impeachment articles to the Senate, suggesting House Democrats were attempting to dictate what rules the Senate would adopt for the trial.

“Thirty-three days — 33 days they held onto those impeachment articles. Thirty-three days. It was such a rush of national security to impeach this president before Christmas that they then held them for 33 days,” he said.

“We’re prepared to proceed. In our view, these proceedings should begin,” Sekulow concluded.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer just offered up his first amendment.

The amendment, he said, requests to “subpoena certain documents and records from the White House.”

A clerk went on to read the amendment.

Under the revised Mitch McConnell rules, the Senate could vote on whether to acquit Trump or remove him from office by the last day of the month.

The big caveat here: Both sides can yield time back, so that could change the time frame. And if there’s a majority vote to subpoena witnesses or documents, that could change things as well.

But if all 24 hours are used over three days on each side, here’s how the schedule could play out:

Jay Sekulow, an outside attorney on President Trump’s legal team, told senators on the floor this afternoon that they are ready to move forward with the impeachment proceedings.

“We’re prepared to proceed. Majority leader, Democratic majority leader, we’re prepared to proceed. In our view, these proceedings should begin,” he said.

“As we proceed, we will lay out our case. We’re going to put forward to the American people, but more important for the Constitution’s sake of what’s taken place here,” Sekulow said.

He also defended Sen. Mitch McConnell’s resolution laying out the rules for the Senate trial.

“We believe that what Senator McConnell has put forward provides due process, allows the proceedings to move forward in an orderly fashion,” Sekulow said.

Watch Sekulow’s remarks:

Jay Sekulow, one of the attorneys leading Trump’s defense team at the impeachment trial, is now arguing on the Senate floor.

Here’s what we know about him:

Closely-watched Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman hinted at changes coming to the resolution when he left a meeting in Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office Tuesday, an hour before the trial was set to begin.

He was asked if he was concerned requiring 24 hours of opening statements into two session days, might make it appear Republicans were trying to jam Democrats and might make it harder for the American people to absorb the information, especially if it led to late night sessions.

And a source familiar says that Sen. Portman, along with Sen. Susan Collins, were the strongest in terms of making arguments in favor of changing the resolution.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell changed the resolution laying out the rules of President Trump’s impeachment trial shortly before it began today.

The changes were hand-written into the resolution, which was first released last night.

In one part of the resolution, the number of days for opening arguments was changed from two to three for each side:

There were also changes to the section of the resolution that would not have admitted the House’s evidence without a vote — now evidence will be admitted unless there is a vote in opposition to it.

As House impeachment manager Adam Schiff makes his case on the Senate floor, President Trump is tweeting from Davos.

He tweeted:

 This is his first tweet since the Senate trial began in earnest.

The change from two days to three days for opening arguments wasn’t the only one made to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s rules resolution.

There were also changes to the section of the resolution that would not have admitted the House’s evidence without a vote — now evidence will be admitted unless there is a vote in opposition to it.

Democrats erupted when McConnell’s four-page organizing resolution was released last night. It divided 24 hours over two days for opening arguments and put off the question of witnesses until after the arguments are required a vote for the House evidence to be submitted.

Here’s what the changes look like in the document:

Rep. Adam Schiff, one of the Democratic House managers leading the case against President Trump, suggested that a majority of Americans don’t expect a fair trial because they think Senate Republicans are rigging the trial rules to help Trump.

“Let me be very blunt,” Schiff said. “Right now a great many, perhaps even most Americans, do not believe there will be a fair trial. They don’t believe that the senate will be impartial. They believe that the result is precooked.”

But his assertions aren’t in completely line with a brand new CNN poll about Trump’s impeachment and the rules of the Senate trial. It looks like Schiff is leaning a bit into the numbers, which are not overwhelming in either direction. The poll, released Monday, found that 53% of Americans think it is likely that Senate Republicans will conduct a fair trial, while 46% said it wasn’t likely to be a fair trial. A majority of independents also said it would likely be a fair trial.

With his comments, Schiff was trying to ramp up the pressure on a small group of moderate Republicans who will be the pivotal swing votes in deciding whether to allow additional witnesses to testify. Most Republicans oppose the idea. Democrats would need four Republicans to break ranks to reach the 51-vote threshold needed to issue subpoenas.

According to the CNN poll, about 70% of Americans want the Senate to subpoena additional witnesses. 

“The American people want a fair trial,” Schiff said. “They want to believe their system of government is still capable of rising to the occasion. They want to believe that we can rise above party and do what’s best for the country, but a great many Americans don’t believe that will happen. Let’s prove them wrong.”

It was the White House that pushed for the shorter time frame for arguments in Sen. Mitch McConnell’s initial resolution, according to a person familiar, who said officials were concerned there was a chance they may not get to make their full arguments this week if there was a lot of holdup with multiple motions. 

Officials pushed for the change to 24 hours to make arguments over a two-day period because they thought it would afford them better coverage if they could get it done during the week. 

McConnell changed the language in the end after Republicans voiced concerns. 

A significant change was quietly made to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s rules resolution: Each side now gets three days of opening arguments over 24 hours. The initial language had just two days.

This means each day will likely run around eight hours, not 12. Since the impeachment trial is scheduled to start around 1 p.m. ET each day, arguments for the day could wrap up around 9 p.m. ET, instead of after midnight. The two sides can always yield time back, and they don’t need to use all eight hours each day.

Democrats have been blasting the two day rule all morning:

Speaking on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the McConnell resolution would “result in a rushed trial with little evidence in the dark of night.”

Earlier, Schumer asked, “If the President is so confident in his case, then why won’t he present it in broad daylight?”

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff criticized the resolution like this: “And so, you know, I do think that by structuring the trial this way, it furthers our case that what’s going on here really is a cover-up of evidence to the American people,” he said.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins and other colleagues “raised concerns about the 24 hours of opening statements in two days and the admission of the House transcript is the record,” Annie Clark, spokesperson for Collins, told CNN.

“Her position has been that the trial should follow the Clinton model as much as possible,” Clark said. “She thinks these changes are a significant improvement.”

In his first remarks on the Senate floor, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said Trump’s defense team supports the proposed rules for the trial, and that the trial will prove that “the President has done absolutely nothing wrong.” 

But remember: That’s a higher standard than he actually needs to prove. Senators, who are acting as jurors, must decide whether Trump is “guilty” or “not guilty” of the conduct charged in the two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Cipollone is going farther, saying that Trump is completely innocent of these charges. 

This means Cipollone is synced up with his boss’s public comments: From the start of the Ukraine scandal, Trump has said that he did nothing wrong whatsoever. Some Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns about how Trump asked Ukraine to help his re-election, while also maintaining that the conduct didn’t rise to the level of impeachable conduct. 

“There is absolutely no case,” Cipollone added

Watch Cipollone’s remarks:

Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, denounced Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s resolution, saying “the resolution should allow the House managers to call their witnesses, and then the President should be allowed to do the same and any rebuttal witnesses.”

“Why should this trial be different than any other trial? The short answer is it shouldn’t. But leader McConnell’s resolution would turn the trial process on its head,” he said, speaking moments after White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

He continued: “Let me begin by summarizing why. Last week we came before you to present the articles of impeachment against the President of the United States for only the third time in our history. Those articles charge President Donald John Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.”

Watch Schiff’s opening comments:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laid out his proposed rules for the impeachment trial today, saying that he had enough votes to pass them. In doing so, he took shot at how the impeachment inquiry went in the House.

“The House broke with fairness by cutting President Trump’s counsel out of their inquiry to an unprecedented degree. Here in the Senate, the President’s lawyers will finally receive a level playing field with the House Democrats, and will finally be able to present the President’s case. Finally, some fairness,” he said.

Facts First: Previous impeachment proceedings in the House were predominantly led by the Judiciary Committee, for which the rules governing this inquiry aligned with past precedent. However, to McConnell’s point, for the closed-door sessions during the Nixon impeachment investigation, the President’s lawyer was allowed to participate and cross-examine witnesses. This was not the case for the closed-door sessions led by the House Intel Committee for Trump’s impeachment inquiry.

The President was allowed to have his lawyer participate in the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings — but Trump declined the offer. Also, a Republican lawyer was permitted to question witnesses at the public House Intelligence Committee hearings, though Trump’s own lawyers were not.

In a significant change that was quietly made to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s resolution, there are now three days of opening arguments over 24 hours. The initial language had just two days. McConnell’s office confirms they made the change. 

These changes just occurred prior to the start of the trial. There are also changes to the evidence section – evidence will be admitted unless there is a vote in opposition to it. 

There were Republican senators who had issues with McConnell’s resolution, according to sources familiar. These last minute changes were meant to address those issues.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who is leading Trump’s impeachment legal team, said the trial rules resolution from Mitch McConnell is a “fair way to proceed.”

The Senate clerk is now reading McConnell’s resolution into the record. After that, debate will begin over the rules.

The White House responded this afternoon to the House Manager’s letter accusing Pat Cipollone of being a “material witness” and casting doubt on whether it is appropriate for him to defend President Trump in the impeachment trial.

White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley called the idea “ludicrous.” 

“The Democrats are an utter joke — they have no case, and this latest political stunt proves it. The idea that the Counsel to the President has to turn over protected documents and confidential information is ludicrous, and to imply he can’t represent the President of the United States in an impeachment proceeding is completely absurd,” Gidley said in a statement.

“Further, the man Democrats appointed to lead these proceedings is Adam Schiff — who has been caught lying multiple times about Russia collusion evidence that didn’t exist, made up a totally phony phone conversation about Ukraine that never happened, and lied that his staff didn’t have contact with the whistleblower. If there’s anyone who should be disqualified from leading this proceeding it’s Mr. Schiff,” he continued.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts is expected to preside over the Senate impeachment trial this afternoon. But he spent two hours on the bench this morning engaged in technical below-the-radar cases.  

There was no grandstanding during the session, no fist pumping, no bitter exchanges between colleagues who often disagree in their opinions. There were also no cameras in the court room to capture the proceeding and compare it to this afternoon’s Senate trial.

Roberts — spectacles perched on his nose, tie peeking over his robe — asked one question during the first hour and peppered a lawyer with several questions during the second case.  

At one point, one of his questions seemed to reveal his hand. “Not to suggest I have a view of the case,” he quipped to laughter.  

In preparing for the impeachment proceedings, Roberts clearly has not stepped away from the technicalities of the tough cases at hand. He was in total command. He also hewed closely to the rules. When a lawyer continued arguing even though the red light was on, Roberts cut him short. “Thank you counsel,” he said with authority. The lawyer was quick to sit.

And when Justice Breyer, midway through a meandering question, referred back to a law professor he had decades ago at Harvard, Justices Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan and Brett Kavanaugh, who all sit next to each other cracked up. Even the chief—looking down — had to chuckle. 

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the impeachment trial, just swore in Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe, the sole senator who was not sworn in last week.

The House this afternoon filed its final brief for the Senate impeachment trial, a rebuttal to the President’s filing on Monday that called the impeachment articles “flimsy” and impeachment a “charade.”

The brief charges that the President’s brief was “heavy on rhetoric and procedural grievances, but entirely lacks a legitimate defense of his misconduct.”

“It is clear from his response that President Trump would rather discuss anything other than what he actually did,” the House managers wrote. “No amount of legal rhetoric can hide the fact that President Trump exemplifies why the framers included the impeachment mechanism in the Constitution: to save the American people from these kinds of threats to our republic.”

The Senate is about to take up Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s resolution setting up the rules for the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.

Here’s how we expect this to play out today:

The amendment process will repeat until Schumer is done offering amendments, at which point the chamber would move to a vote on McConnell’s underlying resolution.

So how late will this go on? The length of today will be dictated by how many amendments Schumer chooses to propose. While his team has been tight-lipped about how many that will be, Schumer has said he has a “series of amendments.”

Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, said he’s expecting the Senate trial to be fair unlike the “rigged” House process.

“I think it’s clear that as a friend of mine put it, Speaker Pelosi gets little endorphin bumps of pleasure every time she can stick it to the President whether he deserves it or not,” Kennedy said. 

Kennedy also addressed Democrats’ concerns that Senate Mitch McConnell’s resolution is a coverup. He said he doesn’t know how it can be called a coverup “when it hasn’t happened yet.” Kennedy went on to call it “hypocritical.”

“I’m ready to see us work some long hours… I’m fine with staying here. I’ll stay here all night. I’ll stay here as long as they want. That’s our job,” he said.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the McConnell resolution for how the trial should proceed “asks the Senate to rush through as fast as possible and makes getting evidence as hard as possible.” 

He said McConnell “can force presentations to take place at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning so the American people won’t see them. In short, the McConnell resolution will result in a rushed trial with little evidence in the dark of night.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is arguing to allow witnesses and documents in the Senate trial, saying that Senate is given the duty to try impeachments.

He added: “Republicans have called our request for witnesses and documents political. If seeking the truth is political, then the Republican party is in serious trouble.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walked through what the organizing resolution will set out and argued that “the Senate’s fair process will draw a sharp contrast with the unfair and precedent-breaking inquiry that was carried on by the House of Representatives.” 

“This is the fair roadmap for our trial,” McConnell said of the organizing resolution. “The Senate should prepare to remain in session today until we complete this resolution and adopt it.”

McConnell said that he will move to table, or kill, motions to amend the organizing resolution “to subpoena specific witnesses or documents,” because “the Senate will decide those questions later in the trial.” 

“Nobody, nobody will dictate Senate procedural to United States senators. A majority of us are committed to upholding the unanimous, bipartisan Clinton precedent against outside influences with respect to the proper timing of these mid-trial questions. So, if any amendments are brought forward to force premature decisions on mid-trial questions, I will move to table such amendments and protect our bipartisan precedent. If a senator moves to amend the resolution in order to subpoena specific witnesses or documents, I will move to table such motions because the senate will decide those questions later in the trial just like we did back in 1999,” he said.

“This initial step will offer an early signal to our country,” McConnell said of the Senate taking up the resolution today, “Can the Senate still serve our founding purpose? Can we still put fairness, even handedness and historical precedent ahead of the partisan passions of the day? Today’s vote will contain some answers.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged both Republicans and Democratic senators to vote in favor of his trial resolution, saying it closely follows the rules used in the 1999 Senate impeachment trial of Bill Clinton.

“I would say to my colleagues across the aisle, there is no reason why the vote on this resolution ought to be remotely partisan. There’s no reason other than base partisanship to say this particular President deserves a radically different rule book than what was good enough for a past president of your own party,” he said.

“So I would urge every single senator support our resolution,” he added.

But remember: The McConnell resolution is not the 1999 Bill Clinton impeachment trial resolution. There are substantial differences.

It’s modeled in a very similar fashion, and the time permitted and opening stages of the trial are in line with it. But it’s just not the same, or even “very, very similar.”

Here’s the side-by-side look at how they differ:

White House counsel Pat Cipollone and outside attorney Jay Sekulow are expected to speak primarily on behalf of the President’s defense today.

But a person familiar with the plans said other members of the defense team could end up presenting today, too, depending on the motions made on the floor today.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this morning he plans to offer a “series of amendments” to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s rules resolution.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell laid out how the trial will proceed if his resolution is adopted.

He said that the resolution establishes the four things that need to happen next.

“First, the Senate will hear an opening presentation from the House managers. 
Second, we will hear from the President’s counsel. 
Third, senators will be able to seek further information about posing written questions to either side through the Chief Justice. 
And fourth, with all that information in hand, the Senate will consider whether we feel any additional evidence or witnesses are necessary to evaluate whether the house case has cleared or failed to clear the high bar of overcoming the presumption of innocence and undoing a democratic election.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar called out the lack of commitment to witnesses as she entered the Capitol this morning.

“This is a very serious day,” she said.

“The President has basically said zero witnesses and zero documents, and you would think my Republican colleagues would take their obligation seriously and allow us to have witnesses,” Klobuchar said, adding that the resolution as it currently stands doesn’t do that.

Klobuchar is one of four sitting senators who are running for President. When asked about impeachment keeping her off the trail in Iowa, Klobuchar said, “This is my Constitutional duty.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone and outside attorney Jay Sekulow — the lawyers leading President Trump’s legal team — just arrived at the Capitol.

The Senate is expected to take up impeachment at 1 p.m. ET.

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley told reporters heading into his conference lunch that he’s “ready to vote today” on whether President Trump should be removed from office.

He said that the President has done nothing reaching an impeachable offense, and he’s ready to vote today.

Holding the trial briefs from both sides in a brown, fan folder, Hawley said each side is just going to present what is in the briefs. He said “we all can read.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer are expected to speak on Senate floor when it convenes at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Then at 1 p.m., the Senate impeachment trial will continue. 

In an interview on Fox News this morning ahead of a day of debate over the rules for the impeachment trial in the Senate, Sen. John Cornyn suggested that the Democratic senators running for president may reach a “bipartisan agreement” with Republicans who are pushing to wrap up the trial as quickly as possible. 

“I would think the senators running for the nomination for president would like to be on the ground for the Iowa caucuses on February the third,” Cornyn said. “You might find bipartisan agreement that we ought to get this done and get it done right, but get it done as efficiently as possible.”

He said earlier in the interview that he thinks Senate Democrats are pushing to call trial witnesses because they are “a little nervous” that they won’t be able to meet the threshold to impeach President Trump with the evidence House managers will present from their inquiry.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney told CNN that Democrats are making a “mistake” by saying that “everything is an outrage.”

The Utah lawmaker said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s changes from rules in former President Bill Clinton’s trial are “modest” and he won’t be voting today on motions to call for witnesses.

He maintained that witnesses should be dealt with after opening arguments and said he still wants to hear from John Bolton.

There’s been a lot of talk about the trial rules used in Bill Clinton’s Senate impeachment trial — and how they stack up to the ones proposed for Trump’s trial.

Let’s make something abundantly clear: the McConnell resolution is not the 1999 Bill Clinton impeachment trial resolution. It just isn’t. It isn’t “very, very similar.” It isn’t a few word changes. There are substantial differences.

It’s modeled in a very similar fashion, and the time permitted and opening stages of the trial are in line with it. But it’s just not the same, or even “very, very similar.”

Here’s the side-by-side look at how they differ:

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, who is also an impeachment manager, said White House Counsel Pat Cippolone should be recused from the Senate trial because he is a fact witness. 

Some background: Earlier today, the House managers sent a letter accusing Cipollone of being a “material witness” and demanded that he hand over any information to which he has “first-hand knowledge.”

The managers also wrote that Cipollone’s role on the defense team could “undermine the integrity of the pending trial.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wouldn’t say how many amendments he plans to offer to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed trial rules — but said it won’t be 100.

That’s when a reporter asked: “How many amendments?”

“Oh, you’re persistent,” Schumer said, without answering the question.

What this is about: Today, the Senate will take up McConnell’s resolution on the trial rules. After an initial two hours of debate, amendments can be offered. After each amendment is read, the House managers and White House defense team will each have an hour to argue their side of the resolution. Either or both sides can yield back their time at any point.

The amendment process will repeat until Schumer is done offering amendments, at which point the chamber would move to a vote on McConnell’s underlying resolution.

The length of today will be dictated by how many amendments Schumer chooses to propose. While his team has been tight-lipped about how many that will be, Schumer forecasted a “series of amendments” to reporters last night. The bottom line: it could be a long day.

Impeachment news is dominating Washington, but The Brief’s Bianca Nobilo has been keeping track of the day’s headlines outside Capitol Hill.

Here’s what you need to know: 

Watch more:

Sen. Bernie Sanders has cancelled his rally at the University of Northern Iowa today due to the impeachment schedule, according to a campaign press release.

Sanders is one of four senators running for President. The others are Michael Bennett, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the first amendment to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed rules for the Senate impeachment trial will be one to subpoena White House documents.

“Immediately after Leader McConnell introduces his resolution, I will be offering amendments to fix its many flaws. The first amendment I will offer will ask that the Senate subpoena White House documents related to the charges against the President,” Schumer said.

He did not say how many other amendments he’ll offer — but said there will be a “series” of them.

“I will then offer a series of amendments on the documents we requested, the witnesses we requested, and amendments to fix the most egregious departure that McConnell made in his resolution from the Clinton rules,” he said.

Watch here:

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to have the trial’s opening arguments go into the wee hours of the night, asking, “If the President is so confident in his case, then why won’t he present it in broad daylight?”

“The McConnell resolution will result in a rushed trial with little evidence in the dead of night,” Schumer said. “If the President is so confident in his case, then why won’t he present it in broad daylight? If Leader McConnell and the Republican senators who have said ‘he’s done nothing wrong, it’s perfect,’ why not while the sun is shining? Instead of at 2:00 a.m.? Well, it’s pretty obvious. Pretty obvious why not.”

Schumer said that if McConnell’s rules are adopted, it will be a “dark day” for the Senate.

“On something as important as impeachment, McConnell’s resolution is nothing short of a national disgrace. And it will go down in history as one of the very dark days of the Senate,” he said.

About McConnell’s planned rules: Yesterday, McConnell unveiled a trial plan that would give each side 24 hours over two days to present their side. The trial is expected to begin at 1 p.m. ET each day — meaning arguments could go until 1 a.m. ET, or later if there are breaks.

Watch here:

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “the McConnell rules seem to be designed by President Trump, for President Trump.” 

He added: “Simply executed by Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans. It appears that Leader McConnell decided to go along with the President’s desire to cover-up his wrongdoing, hook, line and sinker.”

Watch here:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is now addressing reporters.

He opened the news conference by talking about health care — but quickly pivoted to the impeachment process.

“Now, let’s get to the issue at hand. As you all know, President Trump is accused of coercing a foreign leader into interfering in our elections to benefit himself. And then doing everything in his power to cover it up,” he said.

Watch here:

The House impeachment managers are now huddling in Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office.

The managers just finished a press conference where they slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed resolution for how the trial will proceed.

Here’s a look at McConnell’s proposed schedule — and how it compares to President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial:

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed trial rules, which call for each side to make opening arguments over the course of two days — meaning the trial could go past 1 a.m. ET each day.

He slammed the resolution’s provision that additional documents will only get a vote on whether to be admitted after the opening statements and questions from senators.

House impeachment manager Adam Schiff just said, if the Senate does not allow witnesses and documents at trial, the chamber will be guilty of “working with the President to obstruct the truth from coming out.”

He was just asked if he was worried that today’s focus on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s proposed Senate rules and process “dilutes in any way the message you’re trying to put out about what President Trump did.”

Here’s how he responded:

“No, because, look, this is part and parcel of an effort to cover up the President’s misconduct. That was the whole object that is charged in Article 2 of the impeachment articles.”

He continued: “And if the Senate and the Senate leadership will not allow the House to present its case, will not allow the calling of witnesses or presentation of documents, if Sen. McConnell makes this the first impeachment trial in history without witnesses or documents, it will not prove the President innocent — it will merely prove the Senate guilty of working with the President to obstruct the truth from coming out.”

Watch here:

House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff, who is also serving as an impeachment manager, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing the trial late into the night in “hopes the American people will not be watching.”

Yesterday, McConnell unveiled a trial plan that would give each side 24 hours over two days to present their side. The trial is expected to begin at 1 p.m. ET each day — meaning arguments could go until 1 a.m. ET, or later if there are breaks.

“They are compressing the time of the trial. Whereas the Clinton trial managers had six hours a day to present over a course of days, they’re now presenting that we double the amount of time each day so that the proceedings can conceivably go well in the night when apparently Sen. McConnell hopes the American people will not be watching,” Schiff said.

He added:

Watch here:

Lead House impeachment manager Adam Schiff said at a press conference this morning that the resolution introduced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “does not prescribe a process for a fair trial.”

“We could see why this resolution was kept from us and from the American people. This is nothing like the process that was used in the Clinton trial … Senator McConnell did not consult at all with Senator Schumer on the contents of this text. I would assume Senator Schumer only got to see it around the same time that we did in the house. And the reason this was kept hidden is that it does not prescribe a process for a fair trial.”

Watch here:

The seven House impeachment managers — that is, the Democrats who will be prosecuting the case against President Trump — are expected to speak any minute now.

Their news conference comes just hours before the Senate is scheduled to debate a resolution outlining the rules of the impeachment trial.

The White House and Senate Republicans plan to mount a vigorous defense of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s resolution and will defend the role of White House counsel Pat Cipollone, according to officials involved in the discussions.

Eric Ueland, legislative director for the White House, pushed back this morning on Democrats’ demands for Cipollone to disclose what he knows about the case.

“House Democrats are trying to run one of the President’s strongest advocates off the case before it even starts,” Ueland said. “They won’t succeed.”

On criticism over the timeframe detailed in the McConnell resolution, Ueland said:

“House Democrats insisted that the impeachment process needed to be sped up, and now that the McConnell resolution takes them at their word, they suddenly want to slow it all down. House Democrats can’t have it both ways.”

We’re still not sure if there will be subpoenas for witnesses and documents at this trial: There is simply no way to answer this question right now.

Four GOP senators have said they are open to considering witnesses and documents:

The latter three have not said specifically who they would want to hear from — only that they are open to the idea (and worked assiduously to include language in McConnell’s organizing resolution to set up a vote for just that purpose).

Remember: 47 senators caucus with the Democrats, meaning that four Republicans would need join them and vote to have witnesses and documents in order for it to happen.

Bottom line here: there will likely be little, if any, movement toward whether the needed 51 votes exist to subpoena witnesses for days, if not longer. That said: Senate GOP leaders and the White House are keenly aware of how close a final witness vote will be, particularly with Bolton hanging out there.

Once Senate Majority Leader McConnell introduces the resolution outlining the trial rules, the order of arguments for the two hours allotted will be proponents go first, then the side that opposes will go, a senior GOP aide said.

In other words:

Once Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduces his first amendment, the order will reverse: The House managers, being the proponents, will go first, followed by the White House defense team. Same deal on the amount of time and the option to yield some of that back. 

During his bilateral meeting with the President of the European Commission in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump was again asked about impeachment.

Trump said he’s in Europe, “because we’re bringing a lot of other companies into our country,” and that it could mean “millions of jobs”

Just hours before the House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team meet on the Senate floor for the trial of President Trump, the House has sent a letter accusing White House Counsel Pat Cipollone of being a “material witness” and demanding that he hand over any information to which he has “first-hand knowledge.”

The managers also wrote that Cipollone’s role on the defense team could “undermine the integrity of the pending trial.”

“In preparation for the trial of Donald J. Trump before the Senate, we write to notify you that evidence received by the House of Representatives during its impeachment inquiry indicates that you are a material witness to the charges in both Articles of Impeachment for which President Trump now faces trial,” the House Managers wrote in the letter sent to Cipollone Tuesday morning. “You must disclose all facts and information as to which you have first-hand knowledge that will be at issue in connection with evidence you present or arguments you make in your role as the President’s legal advocate so that the Senate and Chief Justice can be apprised of any potential ethical issues, conflicts, or biases.”

The Senate today will consider Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s resolution on the rules for the impeachment trial.

But first, there will be an initial housekeeping measure: Sen. Jim Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, was absent last week due to a family issue and will need to be sworn in. 

After that, McConnell will introduce his organizing resolution for the first few stages of the trial. That will set off a chain of events, which at various points will be unpredictable. Here’s generally how we think it could play out:

So how long will this take? The length of today will be dictated by how many amendments Schumer chooses to propose. While his team has been tight-lipped about how many that will be, Schumer forecasted a “series of amendments” to reporters last night. Shorter: it could be a long day.

Important caveat: Should senators want to debate any aspect themselves, they can move to deliberate. That would take 51 votes, and if adopted, would require the chamber to go into closed session. It’s unclear when, or if, this will be utilized.

President Trump was initially hesitant about leaving for an economic forum in Davos as his Senate trial gets underway in Washington, according to multiple people, but aides assured him it was a quick trip and they would keep him updated as he shuttles between meetings with world leaders in Switzerland.

There was an internal debate over the wisdom of leaving the country as the impeachment trial started, according to officials. Some of Trump’s aides believed the trip was unnecessary and that he’d be better positioned to respond if he remained in Washington. 

But others said a turn on the world stage, with a particular focus on a strong American economy, would allow Trump to cast himself as an effective leader that Democrats are unfairly targeting. 

Trump himself wasn’t set on making the trip until late last week, ultimately siding with aides who said his appearances in Switzerland would prove a worthwhile rebuttal of the impeachment proceedings. 

Trump will be briefed today: Trump is scheduled to be back at his hotel by 2:00 p.m. ET today — after the debate over rules and procedures will have begun. 

As is now common on Trump’s foreign trips, aides have ensured his hotel room is equipped with a TIVO-like device that allows him to watch Fox News from abroad. He’ll also be equipped with his most powerful response tool: A phone to call his allies and Twitter to broadcast his thoughts in real-time. 

You can watch President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial live on CNN, CNN International and CNN Español.

The trial will also stream unauthenticated this week on….

The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump — only the third impeachment trial is US history — kicks off in earnest today.

Here are eight key things to watch today

The House impeachment managers, who will prosecute the case against President Trump in the Senate, slammed Senate Leader Mitch McConnell’s organizing resolution for the trial in a statement this morning. 

“His resolution deviates sharply from the Clinton precedent,” the managers said. 

The managers went on to urge any senator who wants a fair trial to President Trump and the American people to reject the resolution. “There should be a fair trial — fair to the President, yes, but equally important, fair to the American people. Any Senator who wants the same, should reject the McConnell Resolution,” they said.

Their opposition to the McConnell resolution echoes what Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in a separate statement released earlier this morning. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s organizing resolution for the Senate impeachment trial, accusing the Republican leader of choosing “a cover-up for the President” and that it is “deliberately designed to hide the truth.”

“Leader McConnell’s plan for a dark of night impeachment trial confirms what the American people have seen since Day One: the Senate GOP Leader has chosen a cover-up for the President, rather than honor his oath to the Constitution,” she said in the statement.

President Trump in Davos, Switzerland, today at an annual gathering of political and business leaders. He largely stuck to the script — but he paused only briefly during his arrival to address the looming impeachment trial. 

Trump’s address to the forum was mostly focused on what he says his administration has done for the American middle class.

“America is winning again like never before,” the President told the forum. He said before he took office, the “shrinking middle class… felt neglected, betrayed, forgotten.” He touted his trade deals, tax cuts, and slashes to regulations.

It’s a big day: The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump will begin in earnest today, when senators take up a resolution setting the rules of the trial.

Here’s how we think today will play out:

The debate will last two hours, equally divided between both sides. We don’t expect the debate to take place between senators, as they are not allowed to speak at the trial. It will instead take place between the House impeachment managers and the President’s defense lawyers.  

Remember: That could change if any senator moves to go into a closed session and at least 51 senators vote to do so. If that happens, the public and press would be removed the chamber — as would the impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team — and the Senate would debate privately. We don’t know how long these closed sessions would last, if they happen.  

The Schumer amendment: After Tuesday’s debate on the McConnell resolution, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will offer an amendment. While we don’t know exactly what it will say, Schumer’s plan is likely to call either for witnesses generally or for a specific witness to be called to testify, as well as documents to be produced. 

The Schumer amendment will also be debatable for two hours. One hour for the supporters and one hour for the opponents. Time can be yielded back, so the full time doesn’t need to be used. A roll call vote on the amendment would then take place. 51 votes are needed for the amendment to be adopted. Senators will vote from their desks for all roll call votes during the trial. 

Schumer or other senators could then offer more amendments if they choose to. Each would be debatable for up to two hours. It’s not clear at this time how many amendments Democrats will offer, but Schumer said Monday night that he will offer a “whole series of amendments” to demand witnesses and documents be included in the trial. So, it could be a late night.

At some point, Democrats are expected to allow a vote on McConnell’s underlying organizing resolution, which requires 51 votes to pass and is expected to be adopted by Tuesday evening.

The Senate has drafted a document on decorum guidelines for the impeachment trial, including rules that senators — who will be serving as jurors — must follow.

John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, will preside over the trial, and senators have been told they must be in attendance for all proceedings.

Here are a few of the rules mentioned in the guidelines:

The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump officially began last week as the senators, who will serve as jurors, were sworn in. The trial will begin in earnest today, when the Senate takes up a resolution setting the rules.

Until then, we’re not exactly sure how many aspects of the trial will play out. Here are three key questions we won’t know until a rules resolution is passed.