Many people are becoming aware the Senate impeachment trial is an exercise in politics, nothing more.  The votes are already decided; the trial is simply a pantomime.
To highlight the point, Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, simply walked out during the trial when Adam Schiff was testifying; said “goodnight” and just went home.
Washington Post congressional reporter Paul Kane noted:

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As 21 different state attorneys general noted earlier today, there are several reasons why the impeachment effort is unconstitutional.  These are not process arguments; they are factual arguments central to the constitutional framework of our government.
The failure of a full House vote to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to pursue evidence -via enforceable subpoenas- was a defect by design of Nancy Pelosi’s decision to initiate an impeachment inquiry by her decree, not an authorizing vote.  White House lawyer Patrick Philbin explains the legal issue; this could be the lead argument in the defense case when it starts.  [Video prompted to 03:20]

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CTH noted this structural issue last August, and the issue remained throughout the heavily manipulated proceedings. None of the House requests for testimony or documents held any enforcement authority because the House did not follow the constitutional process.
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President Trump’s co-lead counsel, Jay Sekulow, discusses his perspective on the opening arguments for the House impeachment case.   As Sekulow notes, so far the House appears to be attempting to leverage impeachment for a difference in foreign policy outlooks:

Unfortunately, one of the necessities of this ridiculous impeachment effort is to have fact-based advocates who can debunk impeachment lies before the narrative engineers (media) has a cycle to run with them.  That’s one of the reasons why Lee Zeldin, Jim Jordan, John Ratcliffe and Mark Meadows are so important.
In this quick media briefing, the truth tellers quickly debunk the narrative (story) being spun within the upper chamber by Adam Schiff’s lying House Managers.  John Ratcliffe hones-in on the timeline and rattles-off the dates as an experienced litigator.  WATCH:

To assist in page-load-time we’re breaking up the Senate Impeachment discussion threads.
There will be 24 hours of presentation by House Impeachment Managers (over 3 days); 24 hours of presentation by Defense team (over 3 days); 16 hours of Senate questioning; 4 hours of closing arguments, equally divided; and then a Senate debate/vote on further motions to include witnesses. If there are going to be witnesses, they will first be deposed prior to testimony. No witness testimony will be permitted without first being deposed.
The Senate Trial continues today with the second session at 3:50pm EST, continuing with with opening arguments by House Impeachment Managers.
PBS Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream Link – Fox Business – CSPAN Link

Earlier today, while attending Davos, President Trump sat down for a lengthy interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo.  The primary topic was trade and economics with additional insight around the impeachment fiasco and some current events.
Unfortunately Ms. Bartiromo did not ask if President Trump remembered there were documents he was going to declassify.

Day one recap:  A series of 11 rules amendments were offered by Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.  Each proposal was defeated individually during 13 hours of arguments and debate.  The final rules package, which passed 53-47 at 01:45am this morning, is almost identical to the original draft presented by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.  The only change was spreading the 24hrs over three days instead of two.
There will be 24 hours of presentation by House Impeachment Managers (over 3 days); 24 hours of presentation by Defense team (over 3 days); 16 hours of Senate questioning; 4 hours of closing arguments, equally divided; and then a Senate debate/vote on further motions to include witnesses. If there are going to be witnesses, they will first be deposed prior to testimony. No witness testimony will be permitted without first being deposed.
The Senate Trial Begins again today at 1:00pm EST, starting with opening arguments by the House Impeachment Managers.
PBS Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream Link – Fox Business – CSPAN Link

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is attempting to rescue two legally and structurally deficient articles of impeachment rushed from the Lawfare community in the House of representatives.   However, in his first effort to introduce new documents and force the Trump administration to hand over new executive branch information, related to President Trump foreign policy decisions and delayed foreign aid to Ukraine, the Schumer amendment was defeated.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell moved to table the amendment, dismissing the request, and won a floor vote as all republican senators stayed united 53-47.

It is anticipated that Schumer will next move for another amendment making the same request for new State Department documents the House committees did not seek.
The primary reason Chuck Schumer has to make this ridiculous effort for more evidence, is how the House never established their ability to enforce subpoenas via “Judicial Enforcement Authority”.  The failure of a full House vote to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to pursue evidence -via enforceable subpoenas- was a defect by design of Nancy Pelosi’s decision to initiate an impeachment inquiry by her decree, not an authorizing vote.
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The U.S. Senate Impeachment Trial of President Donald Trump begins today at 1:00pm Eastern.  The first series of anticipated events includes the framework for Senate rules for impeachment which will come in the form of a final resolution for Senate vote.
The formation of the impeachment rules, and any amendments therein, will likely take up the majority of the afternoon in the Senate.  Anticipated start time 1:00pm EST.
Fox News Livestream – Fox Business Livestream – RSBN Livestream Link

President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani says he was ‘misled’ by Lev Parnas who Giuliani identifies as an egregious liar.  During the interview on Fox News and Laura Ingraham Rudy Giuliani says Mr. Parnas motive to tell false statements is identical to the reason for Michael Cohen to lie; he is trying to get a plea deal with New York prosecutors.