The trial is here. After weeks of tension in the House following the Jan. 6 insurrection that pushed lawmakers to impeach Donald Trump for the second time, the focus is shifting to the Senate as the impeachment trial kicks off tomorrow. We're still awaiting answers to big questions, including how long it will last and whether witnesses will be called. And while it's highly doubtful enough Republicans will join Democrats to convict Trump, the arguments used by both Trump's lawyers and House impeachment managers will hold critical clues for the future of the post-Trump GOP and the Democratic midterm message. Here is what you need to know. THE ARGUMENTS: Democrats will use a trove of evidence -- from video, social media and other public domains -- to help make their case that Trump's words and actions incited rioters to attack the Capitol over his baseless claims that the election was "stolen." This approach is expected to pull from Trump's press conference outside the White House hours before the attack, in which he told his supporters to "fight like hell" and go to the Capitol and his subsequent failure to call off the attack that left five dead, as well as his months-long campaign to undermine the election results. Also cue that audio of Trump pressuring Georgia's secretary of state on a phone call to "find" the votes needed to reverse Biden's win in the state. Rioters haven't been shy sharing their photos and videos of the attack on social media, either, which gives the impeachment managers two perspectives to use: The attacked and the attackers. They are also armed with criminal pleas from rioters who have claimed they were doing Trump's bidding on Jan. 6. "We think that every American should be aware of what happened," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the lead impeachment manager, told the NYT in an interview published Sunday. Republicans have, for weeks now, latched onto the procedural argument that a former president cannot be impeached as a private citizen, allowing them to avoid passing judgment on Trump's conduct. It's also a view that legal experts across the political spectrum have shot down. Most recently, well-known conservative lawyer Charles Cooper dunked on their position in a Sunday WSJ Op-Ed, arguing that the provision in the Constitution that allows the Senate to bar a president from running for office again "cuts against their interpretation" and "defies logic" because the president is already removed from office for this next step. WITNESSED: Democrats haven't yet said whether they'll call witnesses during the trial. The thing is, they don't want to get stuck in some drawn out court fight for witness testimony like last time, particularly when most of the impeachment managers and jurors are witnesses themselves. But someone may have the option of coming forward voluntarily. The first and second impeachment processes clearly are quite different . This time is also far more personal to many in the Capitol -- and the country -- compared to a phone call with a Ukraine leader. It is clear that the content of the deadly Jan. 6 riot is likely to serve as a reminder to many who are still reeling from last month's events. "For many of us, we haven't even gotten a chance to catch our breath. And we've been dealing with heavy issues," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who was in charge of the House floor when mobs breached the Capitol, who noted last week's extraordinary vote to remove a member from her committees. "But I'm going to be watching closely...After all the destruction that occurred here it's just, it's hard to get over." Marianne with more about how this impeachment vs. the first: http://politi.co/3tE4r6M GET IT DONE: Both parties are on board with a speedy trial, with Democrats eager to focus their attention on passing President Joe Biden's agenda and confirming his Cabinet nominations, while Republicans are dreading weeks of focusing on Trump's actions. Right now, we are looking at a weeklong trial -- possibly two. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are finalizing the trial's organizing resolution, which the Senate will pass before the trial arguments begin and make the timeline more clear. | 
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