After a weeks-long delay, Trump impeachment proceedings have finally moved to the Senate. Shortly after the proceedings were approved by a House, the seven impeachment managers selected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi marched the articles of impeachment against Trump over to the Senate, where the trial has been underway since January 21.
Here’s the schedule for the rest of the process, which will be updated as more information becomes available.
Friday, January 31
After the New York Times revealed that John Bolton’s book detailed a damning conversation with President Trump about Ukraine aid, it seemed inevitable that he would be called to testify. But by the end of the week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was signaling that he had the votes to block Bolton’s appearance.
The debate over hearing new evidence began on Friday. But the witness vote seems likely to go Republicans’ way, after Senator Lisa Murkowski — the moderate Alaska Republican who was one of four senators who may have voted to hear from witnesses — put out a statement on Friday announcing the she would vote against admitting any additional evidence in the trial. That being the case, it’s not clear if Democrats will introduce new motions as a delaying tactic on Friday night. It’s also unclear whether, or when, closing arguments will happen, as they did for Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial in 1999.
Saturday, February 1
The trial continued in an abbreviated session on Saturday, which allowed Democratic senators competing in the 2020 primaries to quickly flee back to Iowa.
Monday, February 3
With the outcome of the trial certain, President Trump’s lawyers and Democrats laid out their closing arguments. The president’s team denied that there was a Ukraine/Biden quid pro quo, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary. They also argued that the decision of whether to remove Trump from office should be left up to voters in November.
Tuesday, February 4
More closing arguments are expected in advance of President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night. Whether he will mention impeachment in it is not clear.
Wednesday, February 5
The final impeachment vote, on whether to remove the president from office, is expected around 4pm.
This post has been updated throughout.
