Our live coverage has ended. Go here to read more about the impeachment trial of President Trump.
During a meeting before tonight’s State of the Union address , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer both made clear censuring President Trump, as some prominent Democrats have suggested, is not on the table.
As she started to make the case that Republican senators wouldn’t go for it anyway, Schumer finished the thought.
”Mitch McConnell — we cannot bring it up in the Senate trial. He has the ability to bring it up afterwards. He won’t. But for most of us, and just about all of us, he should be convicted and we don’t want a halfway measure,” Schumer said.
Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio, said that President Trump’s conduct with Ukraine was wrong but doesn’t warrant impeachment.
Portman said that while he doesn’t “condone this behavior … these actions do not rise to the level” of impeachment and removing the President from office.
He added that Trump did eventually remove the hold on the military aid and the investigations into the Bidens never happened.
Portman called the House managers’ case “flawed.”
Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, called today “heartbreaking” while speaking on the Senate floor.
He added: “It brings me no satisfaction to come to this conclusion.”
Booker suggested that he believes history will not be kind to the senators. He said that because they declined to hear from witnesses and subpoena documents, people in the future will read about this trial as a time when the Senate “shut its door to the truth…even though it was in easy reach.”
“This is a sad day, this is a sad moment,” Booker said.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner announced today that he will vote to convict the President because he “swore an oath to do impartial justice and the evidence proves the charges against him are true.”
Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he understands some of the points the President’s counsel raised regarding the second article on impeachment.
“There are legitimate questions to consider about executive privilege,” he said. But Warner added that “we cannot accept the absolute immunity arguments this White House has invented.”
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, said President Trump’s actions were “improper” and “demonstrated very poor judgment” but do not warrant removal from office.
She said it was “wrong” for Trump to mention Joe Biden on the July 25 phone call with Ukraine’s president and to ask Ukraine “to investigate a political rival.”
However, Collins said there is “conflicting evidence in the records about the President’s motivations” when it comes to Ukraine. She said the President’s attorneys argued that Trump had “sound public policy concerns.”
Collins said she will vote to acquit Trump on both articles of impeachment.
Sen. John Tester, a Democrat from Montana, said that by voting against witnesses and documents the Senate Republicans are “robbing the American people… of their legitimate right to hold their elected official accountable.”
Tester brought two notebooks he said were full of notes that he took during the trial to the floor with him today.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, said she will vote “yes” to convict President Trump on the articles of impeachment.
She said she came to the trial with “an open mind” and said the House managers’ case made it “clear” that Trump withheld aid “to win reelection.” Feinstein said his defense team tried to argue “that this didn’t happen.”
But without hearing from witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, Feinstein said the defense’s “arguments were not persuasive.”
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, said that President Trump “continues to suggest” that he would welcome foreign help in his reelection.
She referenced how he recently mentioned that China should investigate Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Shaheen said she hopes the Senate can “move on from this disappointing day” and get back to important work.
Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana, said the Senate has never voted to remove a president from office and “it’s not going to happen now.”
Daines called President Trump’s impeachment the “first purely partisan impeachment.” He added that “it must be our last.”
He pointed out that no Republicans in the House voted for the articles.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, said President Trump “will be acquitted” when the Senate votes tomorrow.
Speaking from the Senate floor, Cruz talked about the aid that was withheld from Ukraine. He said President Trump “admits” aid to Ukraine was delayed, adding there’s “no dispute over it.”
Cruz defended Trump’s decision to withhold the aid, stating it is the administration’s “right to do so.” He said other presidents have delayed aid to other countries.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, acknowledged to reporters that his resolution to censure President Trump faces slim chances because he would need an agreement from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to get a floor vote — something that likely won’t happen.
He said the resolution won’t be privileged — meaning that the measure is something that senators can easily block from ever getting a vote.
Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, said he “struggled” during the Senate’s process with the impeachment.
He said the Senate proceedings “cannot be called a trial” because of the voting down of witnesses and documents.
Kaine said President Trump’s behavior is “appalling” but not “a surprise” to him. Kaine went on to say the public knew Trump would seek foreign help in the 2020 election because “he did so in 2016.” This comment by Kaine appeared to be a reference to when Trump asked Russia to find his 2016 running mate Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Kaine added that the Senate’s “capitulation” to Trump “has surprised me.” He said the Senate has “allowed a toxic president to infect the Senate” and “warp its behavior.”
White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said that the word “impeachment” is not in the President’s State of the Union speech, as of now.
Gidley said Trump is “intimately involved” in crafting tonight’s speech. Asked for color on how he was preparing, Gidley said, “He has certain methods he does to prepare but it’s a big speech because he’s done a lot.”
He claimed Trump is in a “great mood” and is “ready.”
Gidley declined to say how Trump will celebrate a potential acquittal tomorrow. “I imagine you’ll hear from him at some point,” he said, adding that there may be “an announcement or a statement or two afterward.”
Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat from Alabama, said he has “tentatively” made a decision on how he’ll vote in the Senate impeachment trial. Jones said he’ll announce his decision tomorrow morning.
He also said he backs the idea of censuring Trump, which was proposed by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin yesterday during a speech on the Senate floor.
Sen. Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said that if President Trump is acquitted, “a majority in this chamber” will have made Trump a dictator.
Markey said that he expects an acquittal by the Senate because some Republicans are “too afraid of Donald Trump to do what they know is right.”
He said that during the trial the President’s lawyers did “nothing to rebut the facts in this case … because they could not.” Markey continued: “Donald Trump did it. He did it.”
Listing off some of what he believes is Trump’s misconduct, Markey said that Trump used his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 election and conditioned the release of aid for Ukraine on announcing investigations into the Bidens. He said Trump only released the aid after “a patriot blew the whistle on him.”
Markey said that Trump has “orchestrated a cover up” and “wholesale obstruction of Congress’ investigation” into his wrongdoing. While at the same time, Markey said, Trump is “gaslighting” the nation by insisting that his July 25 call with Ukraine’s president was perfect.
Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, said President Trump’s expected acquittal “is not the exoneration of a president. It is the coronation of a king.”
He said that Trump “did exactly what the House has accused him of” in the articles of impeachment. Menendez said if the Senate does not hold him accountable, “we’re saying it’s ok to do it again.”
He added that if the Senate does not “reign in” Trump’s conduct now, the senators will have “failed to live up to the ideals of our republic.”
Menendez said he will vote guilty tomorrow.
Republican Sen. Pat Roberts said he believes President Trump should be acquitted of both charges, and said he would vote for that.
Roberts argued what Trump’s conduct has not risen to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors.
The Kansas senator used his time to talk about the divisions in the country that he and many others are concerned about.
He went on to say that “these are not the worst of times” and added that as a country, “we have always pulled it together.”
Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, read on the Senate floor the question Chief Justice John Roberts refused to read during the trial.
The question named the alleged whistleblower but Paul argued he’s not outing anyone because he doesn’t know who the whistleblower is.
He also had the question blown up on a placard next to him on the Senate floor.
When asked about singling out the alleged whistleblower, Paul said, “I would say the Chief Justice did that. By not allowing the question — he’s sort of confirming to the public who it is. I have no idea who it is. I don’t have any independent information.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, said she will vote to acquit the President.
Capito said that the Founding Fathers did not want impeachment to be used as a “blunt partisan instrument.” She said she has “no doubt” that the House impeachment was partisan.
Capito called the House’s case “flimsy” and “rushed.” She added that she thought their case “contained incomplete evidence.”
On the question of calling witnesses, Capito said that was a job for the House, not the Senate.
She said that “nothing” she heard at trial “comes close” to justifying her overturning the results of the 2016 election.
Watch the moment:
While senators deliver speeches explaining their impeachment votes, The Brief’s Bianca Nobilo has been keeping track of the day’s headlines outside Capitol Hill.
Here’s what you need to know:
Watch for more:
