Trump’s impeachment trial opens today: What to know about the format, witnesses, and length
One thing we do know is this will be just the third presidential impeachment trial in the nation’s history.
The Senate will begin its impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on Tuesday, and if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has his way, it will be a speedy affair that could be completed in just a few weeks.
The trial is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Tuesday, with seven House Democrats attempting to make the case the president committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” by withholding military aide from Ukraine as part of a scheme to force an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, who sat on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company.
In a 110-page brief shared Tuesday, Trump’s legal team urged senators to swiftly acquit the president, accused Democrats of a “brazenly political” process, and described the articles of impeachment as “an affront to the Constitution."
» READ MORE: What's in the articles of impeachment against Trump
Here’s what we currently know about the impeachment trial and how it will play out:
When does the impeachment trial start?
The impeachment trial will begin on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 1 p.m. The first order of business will likely be to pass McConnell’s proposed trial rules, which Republicans can do with a simple majority vote.
McConnell could also ask for a motion to dismiss the charges, which would end the trial immediately and lead to an acquittal. But moderate Republican senators have balked at that idea, and it’s unclear McConnell would have the votes needed.
After Tuesday, the Senate will convene at 1 p.m. every day of the week except Sunday for the duration of the trial.
What channels will offer live coverage of the impeachment trial?
C-SPAN, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and WHYY-TV will all offer live coverage of the impeachment trial beginning Tuesday afternoon, and will stream coverage on their respective websites and apps. In Philadelphia, viewers will also be able to watch coverage of Tuesday’s trial on 6ABC, CBS3, and NBC10, which will break into their normal programming and take network news coverage. Fox29 did not respond to an inquiry, but didn’t air live coverage of the impeachment hearings in November.
Here’s a breakdown of the cable network’s impeachment trial broadcast plans as of Monday evening:
C-SPAN2: Live gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Senate floor uninterrupted throughout the day will begin at 1 p.m.
CNN: The network’s special coverage begins at 10 a.m., anchored by Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Jake Tapper, and chief political correspondent Dana Bash.
Fox News: Starting at 12:30 p.m., special coverage will be anchored by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, with contributions from Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace, The Daily Briefing’s Dana Perino, political analyst Juan Williams, and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCarthy.
MSNBC: Beginning at 11 a.m., special coverage will be anchored by 11th Hour’s Brian Williams and Deadline: White House’s Nicolle Wallace, with Hardball host Chris Matthews offering analysis.
WHYY-TV: Live coverage from PBS will begin at 12:30 p.m., anchored by Judy Woodruff and featuring several NewsHour correspondents, such as Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins and White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor.
What is the format of the trial?
On Monday night, McConnell unveiled the proposed rules for the trial, which are likely to pass and loosely modeled on those of the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton, but altered to allow for a swifter trial.
Under the proposed rules, the House managers and the president’s legal team would each have 24 hours to present their case, but have to use that time in a two-day period, which would allow McConnell to speed through opening arguments by the end of this week.
Following opening statements, senators would have up to 16 hours to ask questions of both sides, which would be submitted in writing and posed through Chief Justice john Roberts, who will preside over the Senate during the duration of the trial.
Who are the House impeachment managers?
There are seven Democrats from the House that have been named to serve as impeachment managers during the Senate trial, where they will act at prosecutors. They are:
Rep. Adam Schiff, Calif.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, N.Y.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, N.Y.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Calif.
Rep. Val Demings, Fla.
Rep. Jason Crow, Colo.
Rep. Sylvia Garcia, Tx.
Who are the members of Trump’s defense team?
A mash-up of White House and private lawyers — many of whom are familiar TV pundits — will offer Trump’s defense during the Senate’s impeachment trial. They are:
Pat Cipollone, White House counsel
Jay Sekulow, personal Trump lawyer
Kenneth Starr, former independent counsel
Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law professor
Robert Ray, former independent counsel
Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general
Pat Philbin, deputy counsel to the president
Mike Purpura, deputy White House counsel
Will there be witnesses?
That remains to be seen. According to McConnell’s proposed rules, decisions about witnesses or the addition of new evidence won’t be made until after Roberts finishes asking questions on behalf of senators.
Democrats need 51 votes to ensure witnesses have a chance to testify. There are 47 Democrats (including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Angus King, Independents who caucus with the Democrats), and if they remain unified on the issue, they’d need four Republican senators to vote with them
So far, three Republican senators have indicated they’re open to hearing from witnesses during the impeachment trial: Utah’s Mitt Romney, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, and Maine’s Susan Collins.
How long is the impeachment trial expected to last?
It’s hard to say before seeing the final rules. But Republicans will control the process, and McConnell is pushing for a speedy trial that has a chance of being concluded prior to the State of the Union address on Feb. 4
By comparison, Clinton’s impeachment trial in 1999 took about five weeks, from Jan. 7 to Feb. 12. The impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson went on for three months in 1868.