President Trump is heading for acquittal as soon as next week as senators move toward a series of votes on what happens next during the tenth day of his Senate impeachment trial.
Happening now: The Senate voted to move forward with Trump's impeachment trial without calling for additional witnesses or evidence, an expected result after two key Republicans decided to vote against it.
This post will be updated with new developments as the trial continues.
Highlights: Jay Sekulow, Trump's personal attorney, said that if the Senate votes to allow witnesses, he would be entitled to cross-examine key officials who have already provided testimony to the House, including: Gordon Sondland, William Taylor, Marie Yovanovitch, Tim Morrison, Fiona Hill, Jennifer Williams, Kurt Volker, George Kent and Alexander Vindman.
- Lead House manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) argued that Congress' ability to impeach presidents will be nullified if Trump is acquitted, after House manager Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) pleaded with Republicans to put aside party loyalty and "belief in your president" to subpoena documents and witnesses.
Voting for witnesses: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced that she will vote against having additional witnesses testify, saying she doesn't "believe the continuation of the process will change anything."
- Her decision comes after Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced Thursday that he'd also oppose calling witnesses.
The mood in the Senate: Neither side used the full 2-hours allotted before the vote on whether to call additional witnesses or bring in more documents. Democrats looked defeated, and several Republicans were not in the room at the start of the trial.
- Walking into lunch today, several Republican senators were still hoping to wrap up the final vote before the end of the weekend. They then murmured that they had no idea what would happen next when they left.
- A few other proposals have emerged since Axios reported on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's proposal to push the final impeachment vote to Wednesday.
- McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer briefly huddled in a circle during the Senate's quorum call — likely to discuss what happens next and whether they can reach a deal for how to proceed to the end of the trial.
Another Bolton bombshell... The New York Times reported Friday afternoon that former national security adviser John Bolton says in a manuscript of his forthcoming book that Trump asked him in early May to ensure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would meet with Rudy Giuliani.
- Trump denied Bolton's claim in an on-the-record statement to the Times.
Quick take: The big question is when the final vote on acquittal will happen. McConnell will likely introduce a motion to move to closing arguments from House managers and...