Deseret News reporter Matthew Brown is in Washington, D.C., and will be publishing updates about the trial throughout the day.
Rush to judgment: How did Mike Lee get to the trial on time?
3:31 p.m. MST
Earlier today, Utah Sen. Mike Lee attended the March for Life with President Donald Trump, which left him tight on time to reach the Senate for the start of today’s session in the president’s impeachment trial. A video posted on the senator’s Instagram shows how he got there. Enjoy:
Impeachment trial will get an early start tomorrow
3:00 p.m. MST
President Donald Trump’s defense team will begin its opening arguments at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, instead of the usual 1 p.m. start time.
That could be a quicker turn around for senators if House managers take up every minute of what’s left in their 24 hours to make their opening arguments, which could go as late as 9 p.m.
Polls show most Americans want the Senate to call witnesses
1:20 p.m. MST
A new Washington Post/ABC poll found 66% of Americans support the Senate calling new witnesses to testify in the impeachment trial.
Polls by CNN and The Associated Press found nearly 70% of respondents support witnesses appearing before the Senate.
The Senate will decide whether additional witnesses and documents are needed sometime next week after they hear opening arguments and question the prosecution and defense.
Sen. Mike Lee: ‘Deep state’ behind Trump impeachment effort
1:03 p.m. MST
After two days of opening arguments from House impeachment managers, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee is “completely convinced” who is behind efforts to impeach President Donald Trump: the ‘deep state.’
More specifically, career government employees whose testimony has been projected on large screens throughout opening arguments.
“The fact that he cares about different things than the deep state, or that he has a different foreign policy style and a different set of objectives than his predecessors or those operatives within the State Department or the National Security Council who have been there a really long time, might be upsetting to them, it might be threatening toward their career ambitions or their ambitions for accumulating more power, but it doesn’t make it impeachable,” he said.
Watch the video here.
Chaplain prays senators will go easy on prosecution and defense
12:30 p.m. MST
In his prayer opening today’s trial, Senate Chaplain Barry Black asked that senators “strive for civility and respect” despite their disagreements.
And he concluded with a plea to go easy on the attorneys arguing their cases before the Senate.
“Give them the wisdom to distinguish between facts and opinions without lambasting the messengers. We pray in your strong name. Amen.”
Senators receive bipartisan briefing on coronavirus before trial resumes
10 a.m. MST
Senators gathered in the chamber at 8:30 a.m. Mountain Time to receive a briefing on the coronavirus that has killed more than two dozen people in China and has afflicted at least two people in the United States.
Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Department briefed the senators, according to Politico.
Trial reconvenes at 1 p.m. local time.
Romney keeping quiet, Lee speaking out
7:45 a.m. MST
Senators are commanded to remain silent during the trial and Utah Republican Mitt Romney is heeding that warning even outside the chamber.
He has told reporters he won’t be commenting publicly on the proceedings while the trial is going on.
Meanwhile, Utah’s senior Sen. Mike Lee has been sharing his views of the trial with local and national media daily.
The roles of Utah’s two GOP senators during the impeachment trial were predicted by Brown University political science professor Wendy Schiller in a Deseret News story earlier this month. Click here to read it.
Trump laments his case will open in ‘Death Valley’ of TV
7:30 a.m. MST
The president knows and cares about ratings and he’s not happy about his legal team having to argue his case on Saturday: