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House managers, led by Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), began presenting three days of opening arguments Wednesday in the historic Senate impeachment trial of President Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Earlier in the day, Trump said at a news conference in Switzerland that he “can live either way” with the Senate’s decision on whether to call witnesses in a trial focused on his administration’s conduct toward Ukraine.

The crux of the House case is the allegation that Trump withheld military aid and a White House meeting to pressure Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden, a political rival, as well as his son Hunter Biden.

●Senate adopts <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-ease-some-restrictions-as-trump-impeachment-trial-kicks-into-gear/2020/01/21/b0514516-3c75-11ea-8872-5df698785a4e_story.html">ground rules for impeachment trial</a>, delaying a decision on witnesses until after much of the proceedings.

●Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/chief-justice-roberts-admonishes-impeachment-lawyers-telling-them-to-remember-where-they-are/2020/01/22/4e5758c0-3cdc-11ea-b90d-5652806c3b3a_story.html">admonishes impeachment lawyers</a>, telling them to “remember where they are.”

●Senate Democrats <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-democrats-privately-mull-biden-for-bolton-trade-in-impeachment-trial/2020/01/21/e73b971a-3c71-11ea-baca-eb7ace0a3455_story.html">privately consider witness trade</a> in impeachment trial.

●With <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-his-mind-on-impeachment-trump-prepares-to-wrap-up-davos-visit-with-foreign-policy-focus/2020/01/22/0cbf46fa-3cde-11ea-971f-4ce4f94494b4_story.html">his mind on impeachment</a>, Trump prepares to wrap up Davos visit with foreign policy focus.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/01/15/impeachment-trial-process/" title="www.washingtonpost.com">The Senate impeachment trial process</a> |<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/01/15/impeachment-managers-senate-trial/" title="www.washingtonpost.com"> The impeachment managers </a>|<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/senate-impeachment-votes/">Which senators support removing Trump </a>| <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/president-trump-s-legal-team-brief/83e8b99a-e1ca-4a15-94d9-db56cf89f2b9/">Trump’s legal team brief</a> | <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/house-democrats-response-to-white-house-s-legal-brief/b165d6c2-f08b-47ad-acb0-79f42c6109bf/">House Democrats’ response</a>

Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) gave an emotional closing, rehashing the facts of the case as presented over the past eight hours, urging senators to learn the “full truth” and warning that the “truth is going to come out.”

“More emails are going to come out. More witnesses are going to come forward. They’re going to have more relevant information to share,” Schiff said. “And the only question is, do you want to hear it now? Do you want to know the full truth?”

Schiff told the senators that they have the evidence to prove Trump is guilty but that senators should want to know “who else was involved in this scheme.”

“We can and will prove President Trump guilty of this conduct and of obstructing the investigation into his misconduct,” Schiff said. “But you and the American people should know who else was involved in this scheme. ... You should want to know about every player in this sordid business.”

Schiff’s voice grew more emotional as he spoke of the people who risked their careers to come forward to testify.

“They risked everything, their careers, and yes, I know what you’re asked to decide may risk yours, too, but if they could show the courage, so can we.”

Schiff said the House Democrats will spend Thursday explaining the Article 1 charge of abuse of power.

Colby Itkowitz

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) walked out of the Senate chamber, said “good night” to two reporters standing nearby, and left the Capitol.

Senators are expected to stay in the chamber for the entirety of the arguments.

But Feinstein could get a pass: She’s the oldest senator at 86.

Paul Kane

The rules are explicit: No one is allowed to bring electronics into the Senate chamber during the trial.

But one Republican senator was caught with a phone when it began to ring. Other lawmakers glanced around to see where it was coming from, and the person immediately silenced it.

Senators were sternly warned at the beginning of the trial that failure to comply could result in the “pain of imprisonment.”

It remains to be seen if the sergeant-at-arms follows through on that.

Elise Viebeck

Schiff needled Republican senators over their resistance to subpoenaing documents, such as contemporaneous notes from White House officials from conversations they had about Ukraine.

“In any courtroom in America holding a fair trial, you would want to see contemporaneous notes,” Schiff said. “This Senate should be no different. Those notes demand to see the truth. We’re not afraid of those notes. We haven’t seen them. We haven’t seen them. Maybe those notes say something completely different. Maybe those notes say no quid pro quo. Maybe those notes say it’s a perfect call. I’d like to see them. I’m willing to trust ambassadors.”

Schiff also noted that when officials raised concerns about the military aid being withheld and Trump’s desire for a public investigation into the Bidens, they were told to talk to lawyers.

“You know, if you keep getting told, ‘You gotta go talk to the lawyers,’ there’s a problem. If things are perfect, you don’t get told, ‘Go talk to the lawyers,’ time and time again.”

Barely six hours into the House managers’ case, many Republican senators have complained they haven’t heard anything new from the prosecution. Several GOP senators have jeered that House Democrats are excessively repetitive in their arguments.

“I’ve seen, heard, nothing new whatsoever,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) told reporters Wednesday evening. “What they’re going to do with 24 hours, I’m not sure.”

“I took lots and lots of notes, and then things started to repeat themselves,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) added, standing by Scott. Both complained that the House managers were using the same video clips that they had seen on Tuesday, and using the same kinds of phrases to describe Trump’s actions.

But for at least one GOP senator, the careful step-by-step walk-through of the facts has been worthwhile.

“I know the House proceedings were heavily reported. But I think most, if not all, senators are hearing the case by the prosecution and the case by the defense for the first time,” said Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.), stressing that he was learning new things by listening to the arguments. “If you polled the United States Senate, 9 out of 10 senators will tell you that they have not read a transcript of the proceeding in the House. And the 10th senator who says he has is lying.”

Kennedy would not say whether he had heard anything to make him consider voting to convict Trump. He also argued that the senators’ unfamiliarity with the facts of the case was a good reason “the discussion over additional evidence is premature until we hear the case,” a position in keeping with the president’s defense.

Karoun Demirjian

The Senate returned from its break and Schiff estimated the Democrats would continue laying out their case this evening for another two to two and a half hours.

“As an encouraging voice told me, ‘keep it up, but don’t keep it up too long’,” Schiff said, not identifying who that voice was.

Schiff took over the chronology after the July 25 call, detailing the communications and activities that occurred around Ukraine’s efforts to get President Volodymyr Zelensky a White House visit by negotiating with Trump’s lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani.

“Why would you go outside the normal channels to do that?” Schiff asked. “When your objective has nothing to do with policy, when your objective is a corrupt one . . . an illicit one. It means an impermissible one. It means one that furthers your own interests at the cost of the national interest.”

The Senate trial is in a 30-minute break for dinner.

The trial is expected to continue the impeachment presentation for several more hours later tonight.

A man yelling in support of Trump and against abortion was ejected from the Senate visitor gallery around 6:20 p.m. Wednesday.

The man, who appeared to be in his 50s, was then observed on the floor outside the chamber, surrounded by police with reporters watching from a nearby hallway. Within a few minutes, the police escorted the man away as he screamed “abortion” and “dismiss the charges against President Trump.”

The disruption started inside the Senate chamber as Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) spoke for the House managers. The man had barely entered the visitor gallery when he began screaming, referring to Jesus Christ, according to reporters who observed the scene from the press gallery. Quickly, security staff grabbed the man and pushed him back through the doors and out of the chamber, the reporters said.

The man could be heard shouting, “Schumer is the devil!” and “They support abortion!” throughout the third floor of the Senate side of the Capitol.

Jeffries briefly stopped speaking as the man was taken out, then resumed his remarks.

Senators are being warned to keep silent “on pain of imprisonment” at the start of every impeachment trial day — but those rules are not being very strictly enforced. On the second day of arguments, some senators have begun occasionally whispering in twos — and getting away with it.

The rules began to fly out the window around 10 past 5 Wednesday evening, when Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), one of the House managers, suggested that senators appeared to be restless and offered to take a break. As Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) stood to recommend a dinner break at 6:30 p.m., at least five pairs of senators took that as a cue that they could start side conversation — and some of them did not stop after Crow began his argument again.

On the Republican side, the side conversation between Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and David Perdue (Ga.) lasted longest; on the Democratic side, it was Sens. Tom Udall (N.M.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.).

Other pairs of senators who were seen briefly chatting in the evening hours — though not heard, since they did keep it quiet — include Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.); Idaho Republican Sens. James E. Risch and Mike Crapo; Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Todd C. Young (R-Ind.); and Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

Sorry for tattling on who was talking in class. But lest you think all the stolen conversations were partisan: A few minutes before 6 p.m., Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) crossed the center aisle to take an empty chair next to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and the pair — who head up the Senate Rules Committee together — had an extended whisper-chat, even gesturing toward the front of the room as Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), a House manager, played video of Ambassador William Taylor’s public testimony during the House’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/09/12/biden-impeachment-inquiry-meaning/?itid=lk_inline_manual_59" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">impeachment inquiry</a>.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) focused his remarks from the podium on Trump’s July 25, 2019, phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which served as the catalyst for the impeachment probe.

“The president claims that his call was ‘perfect,’ ” Jeffries said. “Nothing can be further from the truth.”

Jeffries pointed specifically to a moment in the call when Trump reacted to Zelensky bringing up the subject of military aid.

“President Trump responded, ‘I would like you to do us a favor, though,’ ” Jeffries said. “These words will live in infamy.”

Jeffries also questioned why Trump mentioned his personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani several times on the call, when Giuliani has no official role in U.S. diplomacy.

“He’s not an ambassador. He’s not a member of the diplomatic corps. Rudolph Giuliani is a coldblooded operative for President Trump’s reelection campaign,” Jeffries said. “By the time the call took place, President Zelensky understood Giuliani’s connection to the shakedown scheme.”

The first day of the Senate trial proved to be a modest hit on television, with an average of 11 million viewers tuning in during the afternoon hours and more than 7.5 million sticking around to watch on cable news during the evening Tuesday.

The marathon procedural session was carried on the six leading broadcast and cable networks during the daytime. The broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) switched to regular entertainment programming in the evening, ceding coverage to Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.

Read more <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/first-day-of-senate-impeachment-trial-becomes-a-modest-tv-hit-with-75-million-watching-during-prime-time/2020/01/22/1d8ff2d2-3d41-11ea-8872-5df698785a4e_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_70" title="www.washingtonpost.com">here</a>.

Paul Farhi

Two more impeachment managers, Jason Crow (D-Colo.) and Val Demings (D-Fla.), took to the floor to make the case for Trump’s convictions.

Crow once again referenced his military experience to argue that U.S. military assistance “makes a real difference in the fight against Russia.”

He also argued that Trump’s efforts to withhold aid to Ukraine violated the law.

“Ukraine experts at DOD, the State Department and the White House emphasized that it was in the national security interests of the U.S. to continue to support Ukraine in its fight,” Crow said. “But it wasn’t just the national security concern, because many people thought that the hold was just outright illegal — and they were right, it was.”

Demings, meanwhile, focused on the White House meeting that Trump withheld from Zelensky in an effort to pressure him to announce an investigation into the Bidens.

“Senators, this body is entitled to see all of the evidence,” Demings said. “And you know what? The American people are entitled to hear all of the evidence. And while the nature of the ‘drug deal’ we’ve talked about was uncontested, it is important for the country to know that everyone was involved — because we’ve heard that everyone was in the loop.”

Felicia Sonmez

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who is leading a congressional delegation to Israel to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi Germany’s Auschwitz death camp, has been monitoring the Senate trial from abroad.

“She’s been able to see parts due to the time difference,” said a senior Democratic aide, who added that Pelosi has been “absolutely” pleased by the House managers’ performance.

Asked whether Pelosi has shared any notes with her team, the aide said, “She has a mobile phone.”

The three top-ranking U.S. leaders were all out of the country for a time on Wednesday, as Trump traveled back from Davos, Switzerland and Vice President Pence left for Israel, where he will also attend the World Holocaust Forum.

This briefly raised the profile of Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), the Senate’s 86-year-old president pro tempore. Grassley is third in the presidential line of succession. He spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the Senate chamber observing the impeachment proceedings and taking notes.

Mike DeBonis

On the first day of the House managers’ arguments against him, Trump broke his own Twitter record. As of 4:25 p.m., he had sent 125 tweets and retweets — the most in a single day since his inauguration.

Trump’s previous record as president was 123 tweets on Dec. 12, 2019, according to FactBase, which tracks the president’s words.

Most of Trump’s tweets were impeachment-related, and 110 were retweets.

As of 5:20 p.m., Trump had tweeted an additional 16 times.

With many hours left in the trial, Trump is closing in on his record of 161 tweets set on Jan. 5, 2015.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) tweeted a photo of a ticket to watch the impeachment trial from the Senate gallery and offered it to Trump. Trump retweeted the invitation.

“I heard @realDonaldTrump would like to attend the impeachment trial. Mr. President, would love to have you as my guest during this partisan charade,” <a href="https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1220044726407176192" title="twitter.com">Paul wrote</a>.

Earlier, during a news conference in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said that he would love to watch the proceedings from the “front row” but that his lawyers wouldn’t like it.

He also shared a second Paul tweet: “The more we hear from Adam Schiff, the more the GOP is getting unified against this partisan charade!”

Trump added his own commentary: “True!”

Later, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow threw cold water on the idea of the president attending the trial, telling reporters outside the Senate: “That’s not the way it works. Presidents don’t do that.”

Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Tex.), one of the impeachment managers, mentioned Sen. Ron Johnson’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-johnson-ally-of-trump-and-ukraine-surfaces-in-crucial-episodes-in-the-saga/2019/10/28/40b9e44c-f684-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_98" title="www.washingtonpost.com">role in key moments of the Ukraine controversy</a>.

Garcia noted that Johnson (R-Wis.) attended Zelensky’s inauguration in May with the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, then-Energy Secretary Rick Perry, then-special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a National Security Council official.

All but Perry and Johnson testified before the House probe.

The group returned from Ukraine and debriefed Trump and key aides at the White House. Sondland testified that Trump urged the group to talk to Giuliani about his concerns about corruption in Ukraine, guidance that opened the informal diplomatic channel used to facilitate the alleged quid pro quo.

Johnson also met last year with a former Ukrainian diplomat who has circulated unproven claims that Ukrainian officials assisted Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

OSAGE, Iowa — Joe Biden said definitively that he would not participate in any witness swap as part of the Senate impeachment trial.

A voter here asked the former vice president whether he would offer to testify in return for top Trump administration officials, such as acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney or former national security adviser John Bolton, taking the stand. Biden said that it was “not an irrational question to ask” but said that he would not engage in such a trade.

“The reason I would not make the deal, the bottom line is, this is a constitutional issue,” Biden said. “We’re not going to turn it into a farce or political theater. I want no part of that.”

Biden also defended his son Hunter, who Republicans have been scrutinizing.

“No one has suggested my son did anything wrong,” Biden said.

“There’s nobody that’s indicated there’s a single solitary thing he did that was inappropriate or wrong — other than the appearance. It looked bad that he was there,” Biden said, referencing comments that his son made in interviews about his role on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings.

Matt Viser

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) now has the floor for the next several hours to tell the story of what he says happened in Ukraine.

“This is the story of a corrupt government-wide effort that drew in ambassadors, Cabinet officials, executive branch agencies and the office of the president,” Nadler said.

Nadler said his story would “show the president went to extraordinary lengths to cheat in the next election.”

Before beginning his remarks, Nadler, who sparred with Trump’s lawyer as the debate Tuesday went into its 11th hour, thanked Roberts and senators for “your temperate listening and patience last night as we went into the long hours.”

Then he deadpanned: “Truly. Thank you.”

In an exchange with reporters during the first break, Jay Sekulow, Trump’s personal lawyer, rebutted a reference by Schiff to a quid pro quo.

“You’ve noticed that Adam Schiff today talked about quid pro quo,” Sekulow said. “Notice what’s not in the articles of impeachment: allegations or accusations of quid pro quo. That’s because they didn’t exist. So, you know, there’s a lot of things to rebut.”

While the phrase itself isn’t used, the articles of impeachment do mention Trump’s effort to condition “two official acts” on a public investigation into the Bidens.

Sekulow would not engage on whether he’d spoken to Trump or how the president was feeling. He also declined to say whether the defense will use the full 24 hours when it’s their turn.

“The good news is we only have 22 hours more to go of their side and then we’ll go,” Sekulow said.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Wednesday that any deal with Republicans on a witness trade is “off the table.”

“I think that’s off the table,” <a href="https://twitter.com/RiegerReport/status/1220089389868601344" title="twitter.com">Schumer said</a> when asked whether he would agree to a trade of Hunter Biden’s testimony for that of Bolton. “First of all, the Republicans have the right to bring in any witness they want. They haven’t wanted to. And that trade is not on the table.”

His remarks echoed those of Schiff, who earlier told reporters, “Trials aren’t trades for witnesses.”

Schumer also made the case that public attention on the impeachment trial has had an impact on the positions of some GOP senators, citing Tuesday’s change in the resolution governing the rules of the trial.

“We have seen that the public pressure for a fair trial is having some effect,” he said. “Yesterday, a good number of Republicans went to Leader McConnell and said, ‘We need to improve the resolution.’ ”

Schiff concluded his opening statement late Wednesday afternoon, more than two hours after he began.

The seats of many Republican senators and a handful of Democrats were empty as Schiff wrapped up his remarks. Some members were standing against the back wall to stretch their legs, but others stayed out of the chamber for an extended period of time, even though it is the rule that the senators, like jurors at any trial, be in their seats the entire time.

For those who stayed in their seats, several bounced up immediately after Schiff finished and bound out of the chamber.

As members of the Senate argued over the rules for Trump’s impeachment trial Tuesday — a day so historic, one senator fell asleep — one little-known guideline started to make the rounds on social media, leaving more than a few outsiders to wonder whether the entire chamber is in the pocket of Big Dairy. Or Elsie the Cow.

The rule came to light on (where else?) Twitter, when journalist Matt Laslo milked his sources for a random bit of Senate esoterica.

Read more <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/voraciously/wp/2020/01/22/dont-have-a-cow-senators-dont-actually-drink-milk-in-the-chamber/?itid=lk_inline_manual_136" title="www.washingtonpost.com">here</a>.

Tim Carman

While 63 percent of Americans say Trump has definitely or probably acted illegally as president or as a candidate, a slim 51 percent majority says he should be removed from office for those crimes, according to <a href="https://www.people-press.org/2020/01/22/by-a-narrow-margin-americans-say-senate-trial-should-result-in-trumps-removal/" title="www.people-press.org">a new Pew Research Center poll</a>.

That distinction makes the Democrats’ job more difficult: They have to convince Americans not only that Trump committed illegal acts but also that those acts should result in the ultimate punishment by the Senate.

An even larger majority, 70 percent of Americans, says the president has definitely or probably acted unethically, the poll found.

The poll also shows why it will be difficult for Democrats to persuade Republicans in Congress to side with them in the impeachment probe. A 59 percent majority of the Republicans who think Trump definitely or probably acted illegally still oppose removing him from office.

Emily Guskin

Just before rushing into the Senate chamber, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told reporters her presidential primary campaign is still making progress without her, touting her local Iowa endorsements — though she laughed when asked whether surrogates were a full substitute for being on the ground herself.

“Well, no, except having those local officials as opposed to maybe more famous ones can be really important,” Klobuchar said.

For instance, Iowa state Rep. Ruth Ann Gaines (D), who has endorsed Klobuchar, was asked if she would be bringing in any “celebrities” to stump for Klobuchar while the senator was stuck in Washington.

“And she goes, ‘You’re looking at it. In my neighborhood, I’m a celebrity.’ And I think that says it all,” Klobuchar said.

Amy B Wang

For the second day in a row, Democratic senators who are also running for president arrived on Capitol Hill for impeachment proceedings against Trump. All had stayed until 2 a.m. the night before when, one after another, Republican senators voted along party lines to block Democratic amendments calling for more witnesses and evidence.

“We were basically looking for four Republicans who are committed to having a fair trial, and they just weren’t there last night,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). “Last night, the Republican Party in the Senate just locked arms … to say that a fair trial doesn’t matter to them, witnesses don’t matter to them, documentary evidence doesn’t matter to them, having enough time to prepare doesn’t matter to them.”

Warren blasted her GOP colleagues as wanting to “please Donald Trump and get this over.”

Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had to cancel campaign events this week because of the impeachment trial.

In the hours before House impeachment managers presented their initial arguments for the removal of President Trump on Wednesday, senators of both parties delivered a warning: Attack us, the jurors, at your peril.

The warnings — delivered gently by Democrats and sharply by Republicans — came after a testy marathon debate over the rules for the impeachment trial that continued until nearly 2 a.m. — culminating in an admonishment from Roberts, who is presiding over the trial.

Read more <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senators-urge-house-impeachment-managers-to-tone-it-down-after-testy-debate/2020/01/22/e515807a-3d36-11ea-b90d-5652806c3b3a_story.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_155" title="www.washingtonpost.com">here</a>.

Rachael Bade

As he continued his remarks, Schiff called Trump “the key player in the scheme” to pressure Ukraine for investigations that could benefit him politically, in exchange for a White House meeting and the release of withheld military aid.

“Everyone was in the loop,” Schiff said. “[Trump] directed the actions of his team. He personally asked a foreign government to investigate his opponent. These facts are not in dispute.

“Ultimately, the question for you is whether the president’s undisputed actions require the removal of the 45th president of the United States from office because he abused his office and the public trust by using his power for personal gain, by seeking illicit foreign assistance in his reelection,” Schiff continued. “If this conduct is not impeachable, then nothing is.”

Schiff then relayed to the senators how the House managers intend to proceed. For the remainder of the day, he said, senators would hear the details of Trump’s “corrupt scheme” in narrative form. After that chronology, he said, House managers will discuss “the constitutional framework of impeachment as it was envisioned by the founders.”

Later, they will turn to why Trump’s actions merit removal from office, Schiff said.

John Wagner

Schiff laid out high expectations for senators as the trial got underway, calling on them to “decide what kind of democracy that you believe we ought to be” and what Americans can expect “in the conduct of their president.”

In opening remarks on the Senate floor, Schiff outlined the history of the impeachment power and explained why the ability to remove a president was not given to the House.

“The framers placed the question of removal before the United States Senate, a body able to rise above the fray, to soberly judge the president’s conduct or misconduct for what it was — nothing more and nothing less,” he said.

Citing Federalist 65, in which Alexander Hamilton described the Senate as “a tribunal sufficiently dignified [and] sufficiently independent” to be trusted with the removal power, Schiff addressed the chamber.

“It is up to you to be the tribunal that Hamilton envisioned,” he said. “It is up to you to show the American people and yourselves that his confidence and that of the other founders was rightly placed.”

Senate hears opening arguments making the case against Trump

Live coverage contributors 4

President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial