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His response to the speaker’s news on Friday was terse. “About time,” he told reporters.

Mr. McConnell has yet to make public his proposed rules for the trial, but he said they would be modeled on a resolution guiding the 1999 trial of President Bill Clinton.

To Democrats’ dismay, that model puts off any decisions on calling witnesses or new evidence until the middle of the trial, after senators are sworn in, the House and White House present opening arguments and senators have a chance to ask written questions. Nor does it guarantee that new evidence will be included.

The minority leader, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, said Friday that Democrats “would do everything we can to see that the truth comes out.”

Democrats are closely watching a small group of moderate Republicans who are open to calling witnesses, hoping to court their support. With the chamber divided 53 to 47, they need four Republicans to cross party lines if they want a shot at hearing from officials like John R. Bolton, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, who are said to have pertinent information about the president’s actions toward Ukraine but evaded House investigators.

Complicating matters, Mr. Trump told Fox News on Friday that he would probably invoke executive privilege to try to shield Mr. Bolton’s testimony if the Senate summoned him. Mr. Trump said he had no problem with what Mr. Bolton might say, but that “for the sake of the office” of the president, he did not want to set a standard of letting a top adviser speak about their interactions.

Mr. Bolton indicated in a statement this week that he would testify if subpoenaed, setting up a potential legal clash.

Even if the trial were to begin Wednesday, it could take several days to be fully organized. Officials in both chambers suggested on Friday that the heat of the trial — beginning with up to 24 hours or oral arguments per side — could begin shortly after the Martin Luther King’s Birthday on Jan. 20. If a majority of senators do vote to call witnesses, that could extend the proceeding by several weeks.