Trump Impeachment Live Stream: Democrats Argue To Remove President From Office

Uptade 3:35 p.m. EST

Rep. Adam Schiff concluded his presentation enumerating his key points and alluding to Benjamin Franklin, saying the way to keep our republic is by fairly considering the evidence against President Trump.

“Our future is not assured,” Schiff said.

The lead House prosecutor presenting the case against Trump said the president has shown “no willingness to be constrained by the rule of law” and has acted “in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance.” He said Trump’s actions put U.S. national security at risk and undermined the election process by soliciting a foreign power to interfere with the 2020 presidential election.

“When a leader takes the reins and uses that awesome power [of the presidency] to gain unfair advantage, we all … must ask ourselves whether our loyalty is to our party or to our Constitution,” Schiff said, warning that allowing such action “is a step toward tyranny” and failure to act would have “long-lasting and potentially irreversible” consequences.

Proceedings were recessed until 4 p.m. EST.

Update: 2:05 p.m. EST

President Trump was monitoring Wednesday’s proceedings, tweeting “no pressure” as Rep. Adam Schiff described the effort to get Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky commit to the public announcement of an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.

Schiff said national security experts described Trump’s actions as “crazy” and asked how U.S. citizens would feel if their security was dependent on another country.

“How can any country trust the United States” if it exhibits the same type of corruption that it has tried to rout in the rest of the world, Schiff asked.

Schiff said when Trump didn’t get what he wanted, he withheld military aid to Ukraine.

He said the conduct undertaken by this president may lead future presidents to do the same thing, undermining our democracy and threatening U.S. global standing.

Update: 1:45 p.m. EST

In presenting the arguments Wednesday for President Trump's impeachment, Rep. Adam Schiff, who led the impeachment inquiry in the House, said the president has shown contempt for the Constitution.

Schiff said the framers were aware they had created a powerful chief executive and at the same time wanted ways of constraining such a leader from a leader acting in his "private interests" rather than in the "public interest."

The framers, Schiff said, wanted to make sure the president could not go beyond the limits placed on the chief executive by the legislative and judicial branches of government. They created a "powerful chief executive but not one beyond the accountability of the law."

Trump, Schiff said, not only exceeded his constitutional authority by scoffed at a co-equal branch of government, which, he said, implies corrupt intent and contempt for the balance of power, violating his oath of office.

Original story

Oral arguments highlight President Trump’s impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate Wednesday following the adoption of rules that will govern the proceeding and rejection of a series of amendments to the rules offered by Democrats.

Tuesday’s marathon session ended with some minor concessions from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell but put off decisions on whether to subpoena documents and call witnesses to a point later in the trial.

You can watch Wednesday’s proceedings below, beginning about 1 p.m. EST:

Each of the seven House managers is expected to present elements of the charges against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The president is accused of trying to leverage $391 million in military aid to Ukraine in exchange for the announcement of an investigation against former Vice President Joe Biden that could have helped Trump’s reelection campaign.

The managers, led by Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, will have 24 hours to present their case over three days. The president’s legal team will then have the same amount of time to present their rebuttal. The proceedings will continue six days a week, with Sunday the only day off.

Trump has been wavering between demanding an outright dismissal of the charges and a longer trial with witnesses, including testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House Chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. As Trump left the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump slammed the impeachment proceedings and said though he’d like to see Bolton and Mulvaney testify, there are national security concerns.