The Impeachment of the 45th President, Donald J. Trump, formally began this week and today is the second. With the Articles of Impeachment brought to the Senate last week, trial briefs brought in over the weekend, and the Senate rules for it brought out yesterday, the formal arguments are underway.

The first day ended well past 1am this morning with Chief Justice Roberts admonishing both sides as he continues his policy of looking at how all of this will be viewed through the long lens:

“I think it is appropriate at this point for me to admonish both the House managers and president’s counsel in equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body,” Roberts said.

The senate will be hearing presentations beginning at 1 pm ET today and possibly hearings and new evidence, depending on how voting goes after the main presentations, regarding two Articles of Impeachment:

• Article I, “Abuse of Power,” accuses Trump of pressuring the Ukrainian government into announcing an investigation into the Bidens by withholding both a White House meeting and military aid.
• Article II, “Obstruction of Congress,” accuses Trump of trying to impede the impeachment inquiry by urging government agencies not to comply with subpoenas and witnesses not to cooperate.

Of note from yesterday according to NBC: “The Senate killed 11 Democratic amendments, most of them seeking subpoenas for Trump administration documents and witness testimony. All but one of the votes was entirely along party lines, with Sen. Susan Collins becoming the first GOP juror to defect and support an amendment to allow senators additional time to file responses to motions.”

All the usual rules apply to this thread as it does to others and the PT thread, but this is not a daily PT thread as we hope folks that normally don’t follow politics will be able to follow along and understand the importance of this, the third impeachment in the history of the United States.