WATCH: Trump counsel says Senate, not chief justice, can decide on witnesses and documents

In response to a question by Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and John Cornyn, R-Texas, about whether Chief Justice John Roberts can rule on testimony of witnesses and documents in the trial, deputy White House counsel Patrick Philbin said that the Senate, not Roberts, would have to decide what would be admissible as evidence. Philbin said that because House managers had not yet done this, any questions regarding immunity or privilege over certain documents would have to be sorted out in the Senate, or potentially in court. Senators had their first chance to ask questions of the House managers and President Donald Trump’s legal team on Wednesday, Jan. 29. That came after both sides were given three days, respectively, to present their case. The House of Representatives impeached Trump in December on two articles -- abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The questions come ahead of a vote on whether to bring forward witnesses and documents as part of the Senate trial. The Senate must now decide whether to acquit the president or convict him of the charges and remove him from office.

For more on who’s who in the Trump impeachment inquiry, read:

Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app:
Find more from PBS NewsHour at
Subscribe to our YouTube channel:

Follow us:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Instagram:
Snapchat: @pbsnews

Subscribe:
PBS NewsHour podcasts:
Newsletters:

Impeachment,trial,Senate,Congress,Trump,Donald Trump,President Trump,President,democrats,White House,Lawyer,lawyers,Trump’s lawyer,legal team,house managers,questions,senators,phone call,whistleblower,Joe Biden,Biden,Hunter,aid,withheld,quid pro quo,PBS,PBS NewsHour,russia,inquiry,ukraine,re-election,campaign,arguments,January 29,Jan 29,impeachment trial,donald trump impeachment,senate impeachment trial,trump impeachment,president impeachment,rebuttal,defense,