15 things you need to know about how Senate impeachment trials work

Let’s start with what we know almost for sure — the Senate’s impeachment trial of President Donald Trump is likely to end with his acquittal. Conviction would require 20 Republicans to side with Democrats, and at the moment, there’s no sign that any Republican senators are ready to vote to remove Trump from office.

Other than that, we know the Senate, according to the Constitution, must hold a trial after the House impeaches Trump. There are formal rules in place — 26 of them, although a simple majority of 51 senators can vote to change any of the rules at any time. say those words at 10:08 in this video on C-SPAN. The current sergeant-at-arms is Michael Stenger, and you’re going to be seeing a lot more of him.

engaging in negotiations about how a trial will proceed.

Here are some other items up for discussion: