CNN has the full 4-page organizing resolution for the Trump impeachment trial that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent to the Senate on Monday.

As CNN notes, the impeachment trial for President Bill Clinton gave the defense and the House prosecution committee each 24-hours — spread out over a maximum of 4 days — to make their opening statements. For the Trump trial, however, each side only gets 2 days to make their statements. But on any given day, the hearings don't begin until 1pm, and will thus drag on late into the night.

After the opening statements, the Senate will have a total of 16 hours to question the House Committee or the White House Defense. Only then will the Senate vote on whether or not to subpoena witnesses or other evidence.

The GOP's defense strategy becomes painfully clear in the structure set forward on those pages: make sure no one has a chance to say or reveal anything beyond what's already known by the public, then force a vote as soon as possible. Which is why I'm expecting the White House's opening statement to be a full-on Chewbacca Defense but with Bidens instead of Wookies.

Impeachment resolution shortens trial's opening arguments to two days per side [Lauren Fox, Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb /  CNN]

Image via the White House / Flickr Read the rest

While the GOP continues their struggle to come up with reasons why "not having witnesses at an impeachment trial" is somehow a good thing, the House Democrats have released some new evidence that will be included in the Articles of Impeachment they inevitably send to the Senate. Most of the documents were obtained by Lev Parnas, an associate of Rudy Giuliani who was born in the Ukraine and who has sold property for the Trump Organization and also helped to broker deals with Ukrainian oligarchs.

These documents include a handwritten note from Parnas reminding himself to "get Zalensky [sic] to Annonce [sic] that the Biden case will Be Investigated." Which  is, uhhh, pretty much exactly the issue that this impeachment investigation hinges on.

https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1217220632489971712

There are also some creepy notes about the obsessive attention paid to Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, including some insinuations from Connecticut Congressional Candidate Robert Hyde that he was actively surveilling her.

Um holy sh*t. This certainly makes it sound like Parnas and co. were actively tracking Yovanovitch's movements. This could explain why Yovanovitch was moved out of Ukraine so quickly. https://t.co/4rBRB06ZGN pic.twitter.com/5Gc8WcGPih

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) January 14, 2020

What do you call a smoking gun when it's handwritten notes and text messages? Unfortunately, for most of the GOP, it's probably still a "Nothingburger."

House Dems release new impeachment evidence related to indicted Giuliani associate [Andrew Desiderio / Politico]

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Well, that's gotta be awkward.

The U.S. House Judiciary panel plans to hold impeachment hearings on December 4.

They just invited Donald Trump to attend. Read the rest

Randy Rainbow is a national treasure. Read the rest

Pretty amazing pull quote from this New York Times profile of Dr. Fiona Hill, former top US diplomat in Ukraine, who testified today in the impeachment hearings against Donald Trump. Read the rest

She is going right for the jugular. Read the rest

Devin Nunes is such an idiot. Read the rest

The Donald Trump impeachment hearings are yielding much interesting drama today. Read the rest

Chris Wallace of Fox News was impressed with Ambassador William Taylor's testimony in today's impeachment hearings:

"William Taylor was a very impressive witness and was very damaging to the president. First of all, as you pointed out, he took very copious notes at almost every conversation... I think very nonpolitical. He went out of his way to talk about what he knew, what he was specifically testament to. The only thing he talked about was a strong feeling that it was in the U.S. national security interests to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia. But he certainly wasn't taking any partisan position."

Chris Wallace: "I think William Taylor was a very impressive witness and was very damaging to the president." pic.twitter.com/QvCe5FEqL9

— Lis Power (@LisPower1) November 13, 2019

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#ImpeachmentHearings have begun. Let loose the bowels of trumpian treason. Read the rest