Trump Impeachment Trial Live Stream: Watch Democrat, Republican Senators Speak Ahead Of Upcoming Vote

The only mystery remaining in President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial is by how big a margin senators will vote against removing him from office.

The Senate is scheduled to vote at 4 p.m. EST Wednesday on the two articles of impeachment brought by the House: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump is accused of trying to leverage $391 million in military aid to Ukraine for an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son’s work for the Ukraine energy company Burisma, and then refusing to cooperate with an investigation into his actions.

The senators have the chance Tuesday to talk about impeachment and their justification for their votes. You can watch the speechifying below:

An alternative to removal from office that could be supported by Republicans as well as Democrats was offered Monday by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a moderate Democrat who has been friendly with Trump.

“Censure would allow this body to unite across party lines and, as an equal branch of government, formally denounce the president’s actions and hold him accountable,” Manchin said.

Though several Republicans have said what Trump did was wrong, they maintain his behavior does not warrant removal from office. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., issued a statement directly on point: “Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office.” Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn, admitted House managers proved their case.

"We must vote to reject the House abuse of power, vote to protect our institutions, vote to reject to new precedents that would reduce the framers' design to rubble, vote to keep factional fever from boiling over and scorching our republic," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. "I urge every one of our colleagues to cast the vote the facts, the evidence, the Constitution and the common good clearly require. Vote to acquit the president of these charges."

A Washington Post count indicates 39 senators have yet to say whether they will vote to convict Trump. Seventeen said they support conviction while 44 declared their opposition.

The president’s defense was a combination of competing theories that didn’t really mesh. The first was he did what the Democrats allege but that’s not impeachable. The second was that he didn’t withhold the funds for corrupt purposes and there are no direct witnesses to refute that.

The Senate voted 51-49 Friday not to call witnesses, including national security adviser John Bolton who reportedly said in his forthcoming book that Trump directly linked the military aid to an investigation of Biden, and that acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and White House counsel Pat Cipollone were privy to the conversation. Cipollone was one of the lawyers who presented Trump’s defense to the Senate.