The Senate’s impeachment trial of President Donald Trump continues Thursday. With opening statements now over, senators have the opportunity to ask questions of the House managers and the president’s defense team. After Wednesday’s session went until 11 p.m. ET, Thursday’s trial will start at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET.
Overseen by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, the trial will run six days a week, including Saturdays, for potentially several weeks. After sitting and listening to hours of testimony from both sides, the question and answer portion will allow senators to turn hand-written questions that will be read aloud by Roberts. This phase started Wednesday and was set to run 16 hours over two days.
The questions will come amid a backdrop of what will happen next, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly telling fellow Republican senators on Tuesday that he does not currently have the votes needed to block the Senate from calling witnesses.
Democrats have been angling to call former National Security Adviser John Bolton to testify. In a manuscript for his upcoming book revealed Sunday by The New York Times, Bolton writes that Trump said he would hold back $391 million in military aid to Ukraine unless the country announced an investigation into his political rivals.
At issue in the trial is whether Trump should be removed from office for his conduct in dealing with Ukraine. That includes a phone call in July in which he appears to ask the country’s new president to investigate former US Vice President Joe Biden, currently a Democratic presidential candidate, and his son Hunter Biden’s ties to a Ukrainian gas company.
In a December vote, the House passed two articles of impeachment accusing Trump of abusing power and obstructing Congress. Both votes were largely along party lines in the Democratic-controlled House. The votes of 67 senators in the Republican-controlled Senate are required to remove the president from office.
Full coverage of the impeachment trial can be found at CBS News here.
Lawyers for President Donald Trump will wrap up their arguments Tuesday.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
How can I watch?
Various news networks and outlets will livestream the day’s events. A number of broadcasters, including PBS and cable news channels Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and C-SPAN, have been preempting regular programming to offer live broadcasts. (Disclosure: CNET is a division of CBS Interactive, which is owned by ViacomCBS.)
Local broadcasters CBS, ABC and NBC have also preempted regular programming to broadcast the trial.
You can also livestream the trial for free online at sites such as C-SPAN or through YouTube channels for various news outlets including CBS News which is embedded above.
What time does it start?
Thursday’s Senate trial is set to begin at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET.
Who else has been impeached?
Trump is the third president to be impeached by the House since the Constitution was adopted in 1788. Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were also impeached.
President Richard Nixon resigned before the House had a chance to impeach him for his role in the Watergate scandal. Both Johnson and Clinton were acquitted by the Senate in their respective impeachment trials.
What does Trump have to say?
In a six-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in December before the House vote, Trump blasted the proceedings and said “more due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.”
“It is time for you and the highly partisan Democrats in Congress to immediately cease this impeachment fantasy and get back to work for the American people,” the president wrote. “While I have no expectation that you will do so, I write this letter to you for the purpose of history and to put my thoughts on a permanent and indelible record.”
He has since commented and tweeted many times about the impeachment, calling it a “disgrace” and a “hoax.” As talk picked up over the weekend for former National Security Adviser John Bolton to testify, Trump tweeted Monday that he “never told” Bolton to tie Ukraine aid to an investigation.
I NEVER told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens. In fact, he never complained about this at the time of his very public termination. If John Bolton said this, it was only to sell a book. With that being said, the…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2020
Bolton writes in his new book, the draft of which was described to The New York Times, that Trump refused to release $391 million in military aid unless Ukraine helped investigate his political rivals.
Where can I learn more about impeachment?
CBS News has full coverage of the impeachment process, inquiry and proceedings.
Originally published Nov. 12 and updated on a regular basis.
Correction, Nov. 14: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described Joe Biden. He’s a Democratic presidential candidate.