Impeachment trial: A foregone conclusion belies big stakes

The pitched partisan battles over procedure and witnesses. The solemn scene of all 100 senators sitting quietly at their desks. The chief justice of the United States presiding over the impeachment trial of a president – only the third in U.S. history.

The Senate trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress began in earnest on Tuesday with wrangling over rules, but its endpoint appears to be a foregone conclusion. The Constitution sets a high bar – a two-thirds vote, or 67 senators – to convict and remove a president from office. That’s hard to imagine this time, in a chamber controlled by the president’s own party.

And yet Republicans and Democrats are

House vote set the stageA rift over witnessesThe White House case