President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is set to unfold at the Capitol on Tuesday.
The U.S. Senate reconvenes for the Republican-led trial of Trump, who last year became the third president in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives.
The Senate will come to session at 12:30 p.m. ET. Watch a live stream of the Senate's proceedings, as well as analysis from PBS NewsHour, below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewWy_lWkLm0
On the eve of the trial, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a condensed, two-day calendar for each side's opening arguments. The rules package will be one of the first orders of business when senators convene about midday Tuesday.
Trump's lawyers are seeking swift acquittal. McConnell’s plan would delay votes on witnesses until later, rather than up front. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer call's McConnell's plan “a national disgrace."
Trump is currently attending a global leaders conference in Davos, Switzerland.
The first several days of the trial are expected to be tangled in procedural motions playing out on the Senate floor.
Seven Democrats have been named as managers to prosecute the House’s case, including Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff of California and Judiciary Committee chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York. White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, are expected to take the lead in arguing the president’s case.
On Friday, Trump added two members to his legal team: Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr. Both nationally known attorneys and regular pundits on Fox News, Dershowitz has a background in constitutional law, while Starr is famous for having led the investigation into former President Bill Clinton.
On Thursday, after the House managers formally delivered the two articles of impeachment to the Senate, Chief Justice John Roberts was sworn in to preside over the trial, before swearing in the senators in attendance.
New evidence has been released related to Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, whose activities related to Ukraine have been under scrutiny in the impeachment inquiry.
The two articles of impeachment put forward by the House charges the president with abuse of presidential power and obstruction of Congress, for his actions related to the withholding of military aid for Ukraine and his request for an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
