"Yesterday, we made the case for the witnesses and the documents. Today, we will begin our trial with the factual chronology," Schiff told reporters minutes before entering the Senate chamber to begin arguments. Schiff spoke near the escalator at the Senate subway, with the rest of the House impeachment team behind him. "We will go into extensive detail about what happened and when and how we know it happened."



The launch of opening statements comes a day after House impeachment managers and Trump's defense team clashed for hours on the Senate floor over the rules that will govern the trial phase.





Under the resolution, Democrats will have up to 24 hours to make their opening statements — over a maximum of three days — and Trump's defense team will then have the same window to offer its defense.



That timeline represents a capitulation on the part of McConnell, who had sought to condense the opening statements into a total of four days, rather than six — a formula which would have necessarily extended the public debate into the earliest hours of the morning, when most TV viewers would be sleeping.



ADVERTISEMENT In the end, Republicans rejected all Democratic attempts to amend the rules package, which was finally passed along strict partisan lines in the earliest hours of Wednesday.Under the resolution, Democrats will have up to 24 hours to make their opening statements — over a maximum of three days — and Trump's defense team will then have the same window to offer its defense.That timeline represents a capitulation on the part of McConnell, who had sought to condense the opening statements into a total of four days, rather than six — a formula which would have necessarily extended the public debate into the earliest hours of the morning, when most TV viewers would be sleeping.Faced with pushback from some moderate Republicans, McConnell altered the rules at the last minute to extend the number of days for both sides, though it remains unclear if either will use all of its allotted time.

Olivia Beavers contributed.