Here’s what you need to know to understand the impeachment trial of President Trump.
What’s happening now: Trump’s legal team and House impeachment managers have presented their cases under ground rules adopted by the Senate last week.
What happens next: The trial will resume Wednesday afternoon with the question period for senators. Questions will alternate between the majority and minority for up to eight hours on Wednesday and again for up to eight hours on Thursday. They are submitted to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who reads them. Here’s more on what happens next.
How we got here: A whistleblower complaint led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to announce the beginning of an official impeachment inquiry on Sept. 24. Closed-door hearings and subpoenaed documents related to the president’s July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky followed. After two weeks of public hearings in November, the House Intelligence Committee wrote a report that was sent to the House Judiciary Committee, which held its own hearings. Pelosi and House Democrats announced the articles of impeachment against Trump on Dec. 10. The Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Trump: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. When the full House of Representatives adopted both articles of impeachment against him on Dec. 18, Trump became the third U.S. president to be impeached.
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