On Monday afternoon (Feb. 8), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced that the Senate has reached an agreement on the rules and timeline for former President Trump‘s impeachment trial.
Schumer said, “The parties have agreed to establish a framework that will ensure a fair and honest impeachment trial of the former president in the Senate.”
McConnell confirmed the agreement was reached and said that “due process and bilateral interests will be protected” under the framework of the agreement and that “senators as jurors will have ample Time to hear the case and arguments.”
The impeachment trial will be held at 1 p.m. EST on Tuesday (Feb. 9), according to congressional sources familiar with the matter.
According to the agreement, the timeline and general rules framework for the impeachment trial is as follows –
On Tuesday, the Senate will debate the constitutionality of the impeachment trial for up to four hours. After the debate, the Senate votes on the issue, with a simple majority ensuring that the trial proceedings will proceed.
On Wednesday, the prosecution and defense open their arguments, with each side having up to 16 hours to make its case.
On Saturday, the trial adjourns. The agreement grants Trump defense lawyers’ request for a recess on the Jewish Sabbath, which begins at sundown Friday and ends at sundown Saturday night.
If both sides exhaust their 16 hours of arguments, Sunday is the day to end opening arguments.
It then goes to questioning by senators for up to four hours.
The agreement allows for witnesses to be called. If the impeachment manager makes a request to call a witness, the Senate will hold a four-hour debate on whether to call the witness after the Senate questioning session and then vote on it. As of now, it is unclear whether either side will have a request to call witnesses after the impeachment manager was denied a call to testify against Trump last week.
Each side will have two hours for closing arguments after the senators’ questioning session or after the witnesses’ testimony session.
After closing arguments, senators will vote on impeachment, each voting to find Trump “guilty” or “not guilty.
According to the agreement’s timeline, the impeachment trial is expected to conclude next week if neither side calls a witness request.
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