Now that the question and answer session in the Senate impeachment trial is over, here’s what you can expect to happen today, via Politico:
SO, HERE’S HOW TODAY WILL GO: The chamber will gavel in around 1 p.m., and they will move to four hours of debate on whether to call witnesses or request new documents. That motion will come to a vote around 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
IF THE WITNESS VOTE FAILS, there will be a bit of discussion, then a vote on whether to proceed to the final vote. That motion is amendable, so Democrats might want to try to force some tough votes. (There’s some question about moving to closed session to debate the verdict, but many Republicans we’ve spoken to do not seem interested in that.) Then, once they get past the motion to go to a final vote, they’ll proceed to the final vote.
SENATORS we spoke to Thursday predicted this could go as late as 3 or 4 a.m. Saturday morning.
It would be nice if the Senators would forgo the four hours of debate on witnesses, especially since that’s pretty much what we saw all day yesterday in the question and answer session. But I doubt Democrats would allow for such a move.
So with that it’s looks to be a very long night, with the president finally getting acquitted at around 3 or 4 am. It could be a lot earlier if Democrats relent, but it sounds like Republicans aren’t optimistic that will happen. If Schumer cares at all about Warren, Sanders, and Klobuchar getting back to Iowa, with so few hours before the election on Monday, maybe we’ll get lucky.