Our live coverage has ended. Go here to read more about the impeachment trial of President Trump.
Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat from Connecticut, told CNN following today’s trial proceeding that he thought Trump’s team “did as effective job as possible presenting their client’s case.”
He said he thought the defense attorneys’ “tone was good, it was respectful.” He added that he hopes that continues on Monday and Tuesday.
Murphy also said he was “glad” that Trump’s team “didn’t engage in some of the personal attacks and political sideshows that many of us are worried about.”
Murphy was critical of how Trump’s team described the access to the hearings and question that was offered to Trump during the impeachment inquiry
Asked if he heard actual factual errors by Trump’s attorneys today, Murphy said, “They continue to make claims about secret hearings in the House of Representatives, that continues to be untrue.”
“There were 100 members of the House that were able to be part of those hearings. They make these claims that subpoenas weren’t valid because there was no impeachment resolution at the beginning of the inquiry. That’s not true.”
Watch Murphy’s interview:
When asked if he thought President Trump’s defense team was effective today, Sen. Mitt Romney said, “I just don’t have any comments on the process or the evidence until the trial is over.”
However, asked where he is on witnesses, he said:
On Saturday, President Trump’s lawyers echoed his favorite defense in the Ukraine scandal: There was no quid pro quo.
Facts First: It’s a simple talking point that might work well with voters. But the evidence tells a different story. Before the public impeachment hearings began in November, the inquiry had already uncovered three clear examples of an attempted quid pro quo on behalf of the Trump administration.
US diplomats pressured Ukrainian officials to announce investigations that Trump wanted. They also said that would help Ukraine get US military aid as well as a White House invitation for the new Ukrainian president.
Then, one of those diplomats, Gordon Sondland, the Trump-appointed US Ambassador to the European Union, made things even more explicit during his public testimony in November before the House Intelligence Committee.
Trump’s lawyers cited Trump’s public and private comments denying that he wanted anything from Ukraine, and denying the quid pro quo.
But as Democrats pointed out during their presentations, all of those denials happened after Trump learned that a whistleblower complaint had been filled about his dealings with Ukraine, by an anonymous US intelligence official.
Speaking with reporters just now following the end of the White House counsel’s opening arguments, House manager Adam Schiff claimed President Trump “solicited a foreign nation to interfere in our election, to help him cheat.”
Schiff opened by addressing the arguments from the White House counsel, which lasted roughly two hours today.
Sen. Joe Manchin told CNN that President Trump’s team did a “good job” and are “making me think about things.”
Asked if he’s thinking about acquittal, Manchin said: “I’ll be very impartial til the end.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the West Virginia Republican, called the proceedings “solemn” and “serious.”
Regarding witnesses, “We are going to make that determination — we are going to have that vote.” She said she will make a decision after member questions.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said: “I think they made a very strong case for why we need witnesses. I feel like I heard the language that cross examination is one of the most important parts to getting to the truth. So fine, let’s bring in the witnesses so we can do cross examination.”
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema would not comment, her handler directed CNN to her office.
Sen. Mike Braun told reporters he thinks that the defense team raising questions about Schiff’s credibility will be very effective.
Sen. Jim Inhofe praised the White House’s defense for being “very friendly.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at a press conference following the trial today said that “the President’s counsel did something they did not intend. They made a really compelling case for why the senate should call witnesses and documents.”
Schumer said Trump’s attorneys “kept saying there are no eyewitness accounts, but there are people that have eyewitness accounts. The very four witnesses and very four sets of documents that we have asked for.”
He continued: “They made the argument it is speculation what the President intended when he cut off aid, but there are people who do know, Mick Mulvaney knows, in all likelihood Mr. Blair knows. Mr. Bolton may know.”
More context: Prior to opening arguments, Schumer introduced a series of amendments aimed at allowing the Senate to subpoena witnesses and documents for the trial. All 11 of his amendments were voted down, but the senators will have another chance to vote on the issue of whether or not to call witnesses and introduce new documents after opening arguments.
President Trump’s lawyer Patrick Philbin cherry-picked accusations of political bias against the Ukraine whistleblower today during the impeachment trial.
Facts First: That’s not the full story. Philbin picked the part that helps the President but ignored other relevant facts.
Michael Atkinson, the inspector general, said his review of the whistleblower complaint “identified some indicia of bias of an arguable political bias on the part of the complainant in favor of a rival political candidate.”
But Atkinson continued, “such evidence did not change my determination that the complaint relating to the urgent concern ‘appears credible’ particularly given the other information the ICIG obtained during its preliminary review.”
In other words, the inspector general deemed that the indications of potential bias weren’t so severe that they negated the contents of the whistleblower’s complaint, which was filed in August. The whistleblower raised serious concerns about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and accused Trump of trying to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election. The vast majority of the claims in the complaint were corroborated by the impeachment inquiry.
CNN previously reported that one of the potential indications of bias was that the whistleblower is a registered Democrat. Republicans have claimed that this is only the tip of the iceberg, and previously called on the whistleblower to testify during the House inquiry. Trump has also said he wants the whistleblower to testify.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell walked past reporters on the second floor outside the Senate chamber without responding to shouted questions about how he reacted to the defense presentation today.
He has now left the Capitol.
White House counsel spent just two hours today arguing the President’s case, compared to the Democratic House managers, who spoke for around eight hours during their first day of arguments this past week.
“You’ve heard the House managers speak for nearly 24 hours over three days. We don’t anticipate using that much time,” White House counsel Pat Cipollone said at the start of the day.
“We don’t believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they’re asking you to do,” he said.
Trump’s defense team used just under two hours of their time on Saturday morning. They have about 22 hours left to argue their case.
During the presentation from House managers Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said he spoke with President Trump after one of the proceedings this week and he gave him his thoughts about them so far.
Graham, an ally of the President, said Trump thought Democratic House manager Adam Schiff “did a bad job.” But Graham said he told Trump that Schiff did a “pretty good job.”
He added that Trump was “bored” by the proceedings.
Following the conclusion of their opening arguments today, Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted that President Trump’s legal team is “trying to deflect, distract from, and distort the truth.”
Here’s his tweet:
White House counsel Pat Cipollone concluded the first two hours of the President’s team’s opening argument.
He concluded: “That’s what the founders wanted, that’s what we should all want, and with that, I thank you for your attention and I look forward to seeing you on Monday.”
The trial has been adjourned until Monday afternoon.
Hear the final remarks from today’s proceedings:
Trump’s team finished their arguments for the day. They will reconvene on Monday at 1 p.m. ET.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone just said at the podium, “I have good news. Just a few more minutes from us today.”
The Trump team said earlier that they would be wrapping up by 1 p.m. ET at the latest.
In his opening argument on Saturday morning, White House counsel Pat Cipollone alleged that Democrats are asking Americans to “remove President Trump from the ballot” in the 2020 election and “tear up all of the ballots.”
Facts First: If the Senate does vote to convict Trump, it does not automatically disqualify him from holding future public office. It would take an additional vote on that specific question to bar him from ever holding public office. Democrats however have said that Trump’s actions do warrant disqualification.
Conviction in an impeachment trial requires the support of two-thirds of the Senate. Disqualification requires only a simple post-conviction majority.
In their articles of impeachment, the House Democrats said: “ Wherefore President Trump, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law. President Trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.”
On the first day of the White House counsel’s arguments, Republican senators did not play with fidget spinners or doodle. Instead, many were seen taking notes.
When attorney Pat Cipollone talked about how impeachment would overturn the results of the last election, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, picked up her pen.
When Cipollone said impeachment would remove the President from the ballot in November, Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, picked up her pen as well.
Sens. Joni Ernst, Lamar Alexander, Cory Gardner, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and David Perdue were all seen writing after counsel Mike Purpura gave a list of claims refuting the Democrats’ arguments from the past week.
Collins and Murkowski picked up their pens again when Purpura cited Marie Yovanovitch, the former US Ambassador to Ukraine, and White House adviser Tim Morrison in saying that the Javelin anti-tank missiles sales mentioned on the Trump-Zelensky July 25 call “were unrelated” to the withheld security assistance.
Sen. Mitt Romney picked up his pen when Purpura said “it’s absolutely fatal” to the House managers’ case that Ukraine didn’t know the aid was held up until Politico reported it.
Some of the Democrats were holding up their heads with their hands. Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, paid close attention to the clips and Sen. Doug Jones, of Alabama, continued to take notes.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, was mentioned a few times, but maintained a deadpan demeanor.
During the trial, White House counsel Mike Purpura argued that Ukraine did not know military aid was being withheld at the time of the phone call, so there could effectively be no quid pro quo between the parties.
Facts First: It’s unclear when exactly top Ukrainian government officials knew that nearly $400 million in military and security aid was being withheld. But there is evidence that some of them suspected there was an issue with the funding as early as July 25, the same day as President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to testimony from Laura Cooper, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, some members of her staff told her that they had received queries about the aid from Ukrainian officials on July 25.
Cooper did not, however, know if the Ukrainian officials were aware of a hold on the aid or were just checking in.
The New York Times reported that, according to Olena Zerkal, an ex-top official in Kiev, members of the Ukrainian government knew the aid was being held up at some point in late July, but Zerkal could not recall the exact date.
As Purpura noted, the withholding of military aid was not brought up in meetings between Ukraine and US officials. It wasn’t until Politico reported in late August that Trump was withholding military aid to Ukraine that top Zelensky adviser, Andrey Yermak, texted Kurt Volker, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, with a link to the article and a message “we need to talk.”
This could be due to the unusual process of how the aid was withheld.
The Office of Management and Budget has declined to turn over documents to investigators related to the withholding of the aid.
As the President’s defense team began their opening statements, senators on both sides were in their seats, taking notes, and attentive this morning.
As White House deputy counsel Mike Purpura showed the clip from the acting director of national intelligence hearing where House manager Adam Schiff described Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Schiff looked at him and was watching along without expression.
Some context: The President has repeatedly attacked how Schiff characterized the Zelensky call during that hearing.
It’s worth noting that Schiff’s comments were from a House Intelligence hearing with acting DNI Joseph Maguire’s about his handling of the whistleblower complaint that kickstarted the impeachment proceedings. It was not an official impeachment hearing.
That being said, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did announce that House Committees (including House Intel) would begin a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump on Sept. 24, two days before the hearing in question.
More about the Zelensky phone call: On July 25, President Trump spoke on the phone with Zelensky and pressed him to investigate Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading 2020 rival.
Watch the moment Schiff’s remarks were played:
There were cheers in the Vice President’s Senate office after White House deputy counsel Mike Purpura concluded his argument just moments ago, a person familiar told CNN.
That’s where White House officials have set up shop during the trial this week.
A centerpiece of President Trump’s defense is that he was doing his job by asking Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden – because he was actually pressing Ukraine to crack down on corruption.
Facts First: Purpura is accurately describing the corruption situation in Ukraine, as described by many witnesses. But his other claims — that Trump sincerely cared about corruption and was acting in good faith to root it out — don’t hold up.
The House impeachment inquiry uncovered substantial evidence to undercut these explanations from Trump and his lawyers. A US diplomat testified that US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland told him that Trump does not “give a sh!t about Ukraine,” and cared more about getting Ukraine to announce the Biden investigation.
The Democratic House managers harped on these points repeatedly during their three-day presentations.
CNN fact-checked Trump in October, when he said, “This is about corruption, and this is not about politics.”
Here’s a breakdown of the reasons why Trump’s claims about genuinely caring about corruption don’t make sense:
