Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that an agreement has been made between Senate Democrats, Republicans and the respective legal teams for the schedule of former President Donald Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial.
The Senate trial is slated to begin Tuesday.
Here is the process Schumer outlined, which will require a vote from the entire Senate:
- House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team will each be given four hours on Tuesday to lay out the constitutionality of the trial. Following the legal teams’ arguments, the Senate will conduct a vote on whether the Senate has the jurisdiction to convict a former president.
- Starting noon Wednesday, the impeachment managers will be given 16 hours, evenly divided between two days, to lay out the case against Trump. After the House Democrats make their arguments, Trump’s defense will then be given 16 hours over two days to issue their rebuttal. A break will be given Friday at sundown until Sunday afternoon for the Sabbath, Schumer announced, following a request made by Trump’s defense.
- Following the presentations, a total of four hours will be allocated for the senators to question the prosecutors and defense.
- Then there will be four hours equally divided for the Senate to consider motions to subpoena witnesses or documents.
- The two legal teams will then be given two hours each to deliver closing arguments.
- At the conclusion of the closing arguments, senators will be given time to deliberate the case before taking a final vote. In order for Trump to be convicted, two-thirds of senators would have to vote in favor. If 67 out 100 senators vote to convict, a simple majority can then vote to have Trump permanently barred from holding federal office in the future.
Given the schedule outlined by Schumer, it appears the trial could take nearly a week to come to a conclusion.
