The Republican-controlled US Senate has voted along party lines to approve the rules of Donald Trump‘s impeachment trial, rejecting Democratic efforts to obtain evidence and ensure witnesses are heard.

The third presidential impeachment trial in American history began with a marathon session of nearly 13 hours on Tuesday, as rancorous debate about the terms of proceedings stretched out until nearly 2am in Washington (7am UK time).

Senators voted 53-47 to block four separate motions from Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer to subpoena documents related to Mr Trump’s dealings with Ukraine from the White House, the State Department, the Defence Department and the Office of Management and Budget.

Democrat requests to hear the testimony of the president’s acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, former national security adviser John Bolton, White House aide Robert Blair, and government budget official Michael Duffey were rejected by the same tally, prompting accusations that Republicans were voting for a “cover-up”.

The trial’s opening session began with Republicans abandoning plans to cram opening arguments into two late-night sessions, exposing a crack in GOP ranks amid growing unease over historic impeachment proceedings unfolding in an election year.

Republicans senators were said to be concerned about how “dark of night” sessions might be perceived by the public.

All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Show all 6 1 /6 All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Alan Dershowitz Dershowitz is a controversial American lawyer best known for the high-profile clients he has successfully defended. Those clients have included OJ Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. One longtime Harvard Law associated told the New Yorker Dershowitz "revels in taking positions that ultimately are not just controversial but pretty close to indefensible." Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Ken Starr Starr became a household name in the 1990s as the independent counsel who led the investigation that led to Bill Clinton's impeachment. That investigation began as a look into a real estate scandal known as Whitewater, and eventually led to impeachment after Mr Clinton lied under oath about having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. AP All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Jay Sekulow Sekulow is the president's longtime personal attorney, and, now, personal lawyer in the White House. He has been accused by former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas of being "in the loop" during the Ukraine scandal. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pam Bondi Bondi is the former attorney general in Florida, and a longtime backer of the president's. She made a name for herself in Florida for taking hyper partisan stances on issues, and her penchant for publicity. She is likely to be a prominent public-facing figure during the trial. AFP/Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Pat Cipollone Cipollone is the White House counsel, and leading the president's defence team. Getty All the president's lawyers: The team fighting Trump's impeachment Rudy Giuliani While not officially named as one of the president's impeachment lawyers, it is hard to ignore Giuliani's outsized role in this process. The former mayor of New York has been making headlines for months as he defends his client, and for his apparent role in the effort to compel Ukraine to launch the investigation into Joe Biden. We'll see how he figures in the actual trial, which he has said he would like to be a part of. Reuters

Under Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s hastily revised set of procedures, there will be 48 hours of opening arguments – 24 hours for each side – over six days. The rules will also now allow the Democrat-controlled House of Representative’s record of the probe to be admitted as evidence.

But the rejection of Democrat subpoenas cleared the way for the trial to proceed largely on Republican terms, with no sign the president’s party will turn on him over allegations he pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden and then impeded an inquiry into his own conduct.

The House impeached Mr Trump last month on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The president denies any wrongdoing, but Democratic representative Adam Schiff – who helped lead the inquiry – said the evidence was “overwhelming”.

White House lawyer Pat Cipollone, who is leading the president’s defence, claimed the trial was a baseless effort to overturn the 2016 election result and insisted the Democrats had not come close to meeting the US Constitution’s standard for impeachment.

“The only conclusion will be that the president has done absolutely nothing wrong,” he told the Senate, later adding: “President Trump is a man of his word.”

Republicans do not deny Mr Trump called his Ukranian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and asked for a “favour” – meaning an investigation into unsubstantiated corruption claims about Mr Biden - while at the same time withholding military aid its ally desperately needed as it faced Russian hostilities on its border.

But Mr Cipollone scoffed that the House charges against Mr Trump were “ridiculous” and the president had done “absolutely nothing wrong”.

Mr Schiff, a California Democrat, opened for the prosecution by saying America’s founders had added the remedy of impeachment in the Constitution with “precisely this type of conduct in mind – conduct that abuses the power of office for a personal benefit, that undermines our national security, and that invites foreign interference in the democratic process of an election”.

“It is the trifecta of constitutional misconduct justifying impeachment,” he added.

Legal arguments turned into more pointedly political ones as the trial’s opening session stretched into the night. Tempers flared and senators paced the chamber as Democrats pursued what may have been be their only chance to force senators to vote on hearing new testimony.

In one particularly bitter exchange, House judiciary committee chairman Jerrold Nadler told Republicans they were “treacherous” for blocking witnesses appearing at the trial, prompting Mr Trump’s defence team to call for him to apologise.

Chief justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court judge presiding over the chamber, admonished both sides and asked them to “remember that they are addressing the world’s greatest deliberative body”.

Adam Schiff sets out the case as historic Senate impeachment trial begins

Republicans could allow further testimony and evidence into the trial at a later point following opening arguments and initial questions, but Democrats said they forced the votes on Tuesday to get senators on the record immediately.

"This may be our only chance, tonight, to make this a fair trial. And it's just increasingly clear that the White House has no answers for why these documents and these witnesses shouldn't be produced," Democrat senator Chris Murphy told reporters.

Trial arguments will begin when proceeding resume at 1pm (6pm GMT) on Wednesday.

The trial's opening day took place with the president more than 4,000 miles away at the Davos summit in Switzerland, but Mr Trump made his feelings clear from overseas.