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Trump’s lawyers will now have the floor, and it is expected their defense will be concluded within a single day. If that happens and assuming witnesses are not called the entire proceedings could conclude by Saturday or Sunday.
Trump’s lead lawyers, Bruce Castor and David Schoen, will be hoping to improve on their opening arguments from earlier in the week. Castor’s performance, in particular, was widely panned and was reported to have left the former president irate as he watched at his Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago.
The Trump team doesn’t need to do very much to gain an acquittal for their client. No more than six Republican senators have so far even agreed that the impeachment trial is constitutional. The chance of the necessary number voting to convict 17 Republicans, assuming the Democrats all vote to do so seems vanishingly small.
“I don’t think I’ve gotten any guidance,” Portman said. “Colleagues have stood up and expressed their views, but they’re not representing leadership. . [McConnell] has said, I think this is a vote of conscience. ”
McConnell declined to respond to questions Wednesday about whether he was open to convicting the former president, whom he aligned closely with during Trump’s tenure in the White House.
The GOP leader has described himself as undecided and told reporters during a recent press conference that he was waiting to hear the arguments at trial. Asked if he was still undecided on Wednesday, a spokesman pointed back to his remarks about wanting to hear the case.