Trump's impeachment: Watch the Senate trial live Friday – CNET

Friday marks a pivotal day in the Senate’s impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Senators will first decide whether to call witnesses. If they then vote against witnesses, they could move straight to votes on the articles of impeachment. Friday’s session will start at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET. 

With 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats currently in the Senate, four Republicans and all the Democrats will need to vote for witnesses in order for the trial to continue. The four likely Republicans to vote in favor of witnesses are split. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah have both said they will vote for witness testimony. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said late Thursday he will vote against witnesses. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska remains publicly undecided. 

If it’s a 50-50 split, the deciding vote could fall on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is overseeing the trial.  If witnesses aren’t called, then it is possible that votes on the two articles of impeachment could occur on Friday as well, ending the trial. 

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 a political rival. 

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.  

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President Donald Trump’s trial could end as soon as Friday. 


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 will be embedded above.

What time does it start? 

Friday’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 Bolton to testify, Trump tweeted Monday that he “never told” Bolton to tie Ukraine aid to an investigation. 

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.

source: cnet.com