Trump Impeachment Live Stream: President Faces Senate Trial Over Ukraine Scandal

Update: 4:45 p.m.

The Senate voted to table an amendment that would have required the Senate to subpoena documents from President Trump’s impeachment hearings at the outset of the proceedings.

The vote came following two hours of debate that saw House case managers Reps. Adam Schiff and Zoe Lofgren argue administration documents would shed light on the thinking behind Trump’s decision to withhold $391 million in military aid to Ukraine in exchange for the announcement of an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden.

The Senate voted 53-47 along party lines to delay the issue until after the case is laid out by the House case managers and Trump’s defenders respond.

Before the vote, White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin said the reason Trump declined to release documents to House impeachment investigators was because the subpoenas were invalid.

In arguing over the first of a series of amendments to be offered altering rules Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell unveiled for Trump’s impeachment trial, Philbin said the House failed to authorize the investigators to issue subpoenas, maintaining a formal vote on the impeachment investigation should have been taken before the investigation began.

Adam Schiff scoffed at Philbin’s argument, saying the White House was engaging in a coverup.

Update: 2:50 p.m. EST

President Trump’s impeachment trial quickly descended into a partisan brawl Tuesday as Democrats railed against the rules drawn up for the Senate trial and the president’s attorneys called the House case “ridiculous.”

As debate over the rules began, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who is the lead prosecutor for the House’s case, pointed out differences between the current impeachment process and that of President Bill Clinton, 21 years ago. He noted witnesses had testified and thousands of documents turned over ahead of the Clinton Senate trial, something that has not happened in this case. He said Trump’s refusal to turn over any documents to House investigators indicates he has something to hide.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow called that assumption dangerous and “ridiculous,” saying it attacks the very heart of the Constitution. Sekulow and White House attorney Pat Cipollone said the House has no case, proved by the fact that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi waited 33 days before sending the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber. They said if the House wanted more witnesses to testify and documents turned over, Democrats should have gone to the courts for enforcement – something Democrats said would have taken too long.

After the rules arguments were presented, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., began introducing amendments, the first of which called for teh subpoenaing of witnesses and documents.

Original story

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday opened President Trump's impeachment trial, only the third time in U.S. history senators have considered removing a president from office.

Watch the live stream below:

The House has accused Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for trying to leverage $391 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine for political dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Trump dismisses the case against him as a "hoax." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., worked closely with the White House in shaping the trial. A fight is looming in coming days over whether any witnesses will be called or documents subpoenaed.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Tuesday criticized McConnell’s rules as an “Alice in Wonderland-type proceeding” in a CNN interview.

Only two ther presidents have been impeached: Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Neither was removed from office. Richard Nixon resigned before he could be formally impeached.