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***Live Updates*** Trump Impeachment Trial: Senators Ask More Questions

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Senators will have eight more hours on Thursday to ask questions in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates. All times eastern.

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3:08 PM: Bennet and other Senate Dems ask the House managers what the consequences will be if Trump asserts blanket privileges and if Trump’s advisers are entitled to the same protections as the whistleblower.

Nadler says privileges are limited and Trump’s categorial defiance is a claim to monarchial, dictatorial power. He says that’s why they are impeaching him for abuse of Congress. Nadler keeps saying the motives are “clearly dictatorial.” He now addresses the mixed motives question and says Dershowitz’s argument is “nonsense” to point away from the fact that Trump has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he has abused his power.

3:01 PM: Braun and Barrasso ask Trump’s team if they want to respond to the claim by House managers that Trump doesn’t have the country’s best interest in mind.

Herschmann says the American people are telling you just the opposite. He cites Trump’s approval rating that has hit an all-time high. He says polls have found Americans are happiest they have been in 15 years. Herschmann says Trump is an “immediate” and “legitimate” threat to them and their candidates. He lists Trump’s accomplishments and the record-low unemployment rates for non-whites. He says maybe Trump could get even more done if the House managers stopped harassing him.

2:56 PM: Wyden asks the House managers how it is not an abuse of power when Trump outsourced an investigation to the Ukrainians.

Schiff says it is absolutely an abuse of power. He says if you believe that a president can engage in any corrupt activity so long as the campaign is in the public interest, then what will prevent him from tasking the Justice Department from doing his dirty work.

2:51 PM: Scott and other GOP Senators ask Trump’s team why House Republicans were denied substantive rights afforded to the minority during Clinton’s impeachment. Also ask why they were denied the right to cross examination during hearings.

Cipollone says he doesn’t know and they violated all forms of due process. He says it’s more than a process argument. He asks why they designed such a process if they felt confident in their facts.

2:47 PM: Kaine asks if Trump is not convicted for obstruction of Congress, what will stop him from refusing to cooperate with Congress in the future on any matter.

Schiff says a president who can and will ignore all oversight is a threat to the American people.

2:39 PM: Boozman and GOP Senators ask both side how will acquitting Trump prevent voters from making a decision.

Cipollone says the voters should decide who should be president because all power comes from the people.

Schiff says the framers were concerned about a president who would cheat to get re-elected. He says he has more confidence in the American people that Trump’s team does re: accepting a conviction.

2:33 PM: Hirono asks House managers about Mulvaney’s remarks (“we do that all the time with foreign policy”). She asks what was different about Trump’s withholding of aid.

Schiff says it is appropriate to ask the question. He says the law did not authorize the hold the way it was held. He says there was nothing that would allow for a hold once Ukraine met its anti-corruption benchmarks.

2:25 PM: Lankford and other GOP Senators ask Trump’s team if there was a national security risk to Ukraine or United States when the funds went out in September the last two years?

Philbin says the short answer is there was no jeopardy.

2:20 PM: Reed and other Dem. Senators ask both parties about Giuliani. They want to know who has paid for Giuliani’s travel and legal fees.

Schiff says the short answer is he doesn’t know. He says if he is not being paid by Trump and he is being paid by other clients then it raises “profound questions” that they can’t answer at this point. He says Giuliani is not doing foreign policy by his own admission.

Sekulow says the Bidens “were open for business” and Democrats are concerned about Giuliani. He says it is ironic that three Senate Democrats are asking whether foreign investigations are appropriate when they wrote a letter to the Ukrainians asking them to give Mueller information on Trump.

2:15 PM: Thune and other GOP Senators ask Trump’s team if the Senate should take into account the partisan nature of the impeachment proceedings in the House.

Cipollone says “absolutely you should take that into account. That’s dispositive. That should end it.” Cipollone cites the remarks Democrats previously made and Pelosi’s remarks the Senators quoted. Cipollone says unfortunately Pelosi didn’t follow her own advice. Cipollone calls it “domestic election interference” and “political election interference” and “it is wrong.” He says it would tear the country apart for generations and the American people would not accept it.

2:11 PM: Cantwell asks the House managers if there is any evidence that people like Pompeo, Mulvaney, Barr, or anyone on the outside was involved in Trump’s “scheme.”

Demings says Sondland testified that everybody was “in the loop.” Demings says the Senators should at least start by issuing subpoenas for State Department emails if they are concerned about finding out the truth.

2:06 PM: Hawley and Lee ask Trump’s team if there is any application here to a federal court ruling that held that public officials can condition official acts by other public officials.

Philbin says a quid pro quo has not even been established here.

2:00 PM: Brown and Wyden ask the House managers about Trump’s team failure to give an adequate response about foreign interference in elections and whether it should be reported to the FBI and is a violation of law. They ask if Trump stays in office, what signal would that send to other countries that want to interfere in elections.

Jeffries says it would send “a terrible message to autocrats and dictators and enemies of democracy and the free world.”

1:55 PM: Portman and other GOP Senators as Trump’s team about Jonathan Turley’s testimony. They ask if Turley said abuse of power is difficult to prove without criminal allegations and was not proven in this case.

Philbin says Turley was very critical of the process in the House and the charges that the Democrats were considering. Philbin says Turley explained that this was a rushed process that did not adequately pursue an investigation. Philbin points out Nixon was charged with criminal violations within the abuse of power article.

1:49 PM: Rosen asks the House managers what precedent (putting personal interest above national security) they believe Trump is setting for future presidents.

Crow references his service and says it has taught him that the country is strong not just because of the sacrifice of people in uniform but because the nation has friends and doesn’t go it alone. Crow says if other nations will not stand by the country if they do not feel that its word/handshake do not mean anything.

1:41 PM: Cruz and other Senators ask about Hunter Biden and Burisma and Hunter contradicting his dad’s claim that he never spoke to Hunter about Biden. They ask both parties if the House asked anyone about these conflicting remarks.

Bondi says Biden was paid $80,000+ without any experience in the energy sector and Joe Biden was the point man for Ukraine. She says the arrangement “raised eyebrows” worldwide and Joe Biden never asked his son to leave the board even though he knew all of the corruption surrounding Burisma.

Demings says the Bidens are not relevant witnesses. She pivots and makes the case for calling people like Mulvaney to testify.

1:35 PM: Jones asks the House managers to identify which provision or provisions authorized the subpoenas before HR 660. Schiff says they didn’t have the Justice Department do the original investigation because Barr turned it down. Schiff warns that Congress will be stripped of its oversight powers and thus its legislative powers as well.

Schiff lists the subpoenas that went out after HR. 660, including the one that went out to Mulvaney.

1:31 PM: In response to a question about whether Trump is the first innocent defend not to waive his rights, Philbin says it is “antithetical to the American system of justice and due process” to argue someone is guilty for reserving Constitutional rights.

1:25 PM: Tester asks the House managers if there is any limit to the type of quid pro quo a sitting president can engage with a foreign entity so long as the president believes he is doing what he believes is in the public interest. Tester giving Democrats a chance to whack Dershowitz.

Schiff says there is no limiting principle to Dershowitz’s arguments. He said it is “astonishing” that someone would make that argument. Schiff says there has been a “descent into Constitutional madness.” Schiff says you only make that client when you know your client is guilty and dead to rights. He says the White House’s argument is a “normalization of lawlessness.”

1:20 PM: Toomey and other GOP Senators ask Trump’s lawyers how much weight Senators should give to Trump potentially being removed and kicked off the ballot.

Sekulow says it does a disservice and complicates the matter for the American people because this is occurring at the dawn of a new election season. Sekulow says Pelosi claimed it was such a national urgency and yet let the articles linger for a month. He says Democrats are trying to take the vote away from the American people.

1:16 PM: Baldwin asks the House managers what witnesses could answer Romney’s question about when Trump first ordered the hold.

Crow cites emails from Bolton,  Cooper, Croft and testimony from Vindman. He says they could subpoena Bolton and send subpoenas to the State and Defense Departments.

1:15 PM: Chief Justice Roberts declines to read Rand Paul’s question as submitted.

1:10 PM: Murray asks the managers about why the managers did not issue subpoenas. She wants them to elaborate why their authority (full power of impeachment) controls.

Lofgren claims they were validly issued subpoenas under House rules. She says the White House’s argument about a full House vote is just an “excuse” because the White House did not comply with subpoenas before and after the vote. Lofgren says what the White House is arguing would also curtail the Senate’s subpoena power as well.

12:58 PM: Senators arriving as the trial is expected to resume at the top of the hour.

12:55 PM: Pelosi doesn’t seem confident Senators will ask for witnesses:

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