Updated at 4:56 p.m. ET
The first full day of the Trump impeachment trial has been dominated by partisan fighting over the rules of the proceedings.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., released his resolution outlining the next steps, including a week of hours-long opening arguments, on Monday. By Tuesday, ahead of the debate, Senate leaders made additional changes to the trial timeline.
The vote is a culmination of disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over what would constitute a fair trial. The Democrat-led House voted in December to impeach President Trump but held off on transmitting the two articles of impeachment in an attempt to get more details on the trial rules. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ultimately moved the process forward without the assurances Democrats sought.
McConnell needs a simple majority — 51 votes — to approve his resolution that lays out how much time House impeachment managers and the president's defense team will get to make their arguments. The Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate.
Speaking on the Senate floor, McConnell called the resolution "a fair road map," that closely tracks past precedents. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called the rules "completely partisan." He said McConnell's resolution seems "designed by President Trump for President Trump."
McConnell said he would move to table any Democratic amendments to the resolution.
Later on Tuesday afternoon, he did just that. He called for a vote to table, or kill, an amendment proposed by Schumer that would have subpoenaed records of communications related to White House officials, National Security Council personnel, and other Trump administration officials who have direct knowledge of "key events in question."
The amendment was killed on a party line 53-47 vote.
Trial timeline
McConnell maintains he based his plan on the rules for the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999, with each side getting 24 hours. In a last-minute change, McConnell calls for the 24 hours to be divided over three days, rather than two as he originally proposed. That would address one Democratic complaint — that a two-day limit would force the session to last long into the night, since the trial days do not start until 1 p.m. ET.
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