President Trump has been impeached

Rep. Barry Loudermilk echoed a frequently used argument from House Republicans that President Trump has been denied his Sixth Amendment right “of the defendant to face his accuser.”

Facts First: Loudermilk is wrong, Trump does not have a constitutional right to face the whistleblower. The Sixth Amendment only applies to criminal prosecutions. The constitutional rights of criminal defendants do not apply to public officials in a House of Representatives impeachment process.

The amendment clearly defines what proceedings it covers. “In all criminal prosecutions,” it states at the beginning, going on to say that the accused has the right “to be confronted with the witnesses against him.”

Steve Vladeck, a Supreme Court analyst for CNN and professor at the University of Texas law school, says invoking the Sixth Amendment to suggest that Trump has the right to face the whistleblower “is so wrong as to be embarrassing.”

Rep. Bradley Byrne, Republican from Alabama, brought up Hunter Biden and Ukraine in his floor remarks during the ongoing debate on the impeachment articles.

"If the dealings of Hunter Biden were so above board, you would think the majority would be fine looking into this matter," Byrne said.

He added that Republican subpoenas for Hunter Biden have all been denied. 

"Hunter Biden doesn't get a pass because his dad was Vice President," Byrne said.

Some of President Trump’s advisers have already begun discussing ways to use the roughly two weeks between now and the likely start of his Senate trial to advance their narrative, according to advisers familiar with the ongoing talks.

Those advisers don’t want the President to squander that time, during which he is presently slated to be at Mar-a-Lago, because the congressional recess could create a messaging void for Trump to fill with his side of the story, the advisers said.

Aides and advisers have discussed the prospect of adding events or trips to his schedule, as well as keeping up a heavy presence of surrogates on the airwaves.

Although it was under completely different circumstances, White House officials last year lamented the fact that Trump spent his holidays largely out of view and thus ceded an opportunity to shape the conversation around the government shutdown unfolding at the time, these advisers said. Many viewed those days as a waste, and some Trump allies now hope he will use the same time period this year to go on offense.

That being said, one adviser noted Trump relishes his time spent holding court at Mar-a-Lago and may not easily be persuaded to give that up, the advisers said.

Georgia Republican Barry Loudermilk argued during today's debate on the articles of impeachment that Jesus Christ was given more due process rights before his crucifixion than President Trump. 

Loudermilk was complaining that the whistleblower was never called to testify and that his or her identity remains secret.

Watch here:

Even as the House prepares to vote on the impeachment of President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed the proceedings as “noise” and “silliness."

Pompeo made the remarks today alongside Defense Secretary Mark Esper and their Indian counterparts at the State Department.

“We will, we won’t let the noise and the silliness here in Washington DC distract us from that,” Pompeo added. 

Asked whether he would participate in Senate proceedings, Pompeo said he would do what was legally required of him. He did not answer a question as to whether he had been asked by the President to participate.

Lawmakers are currently debating on the House floor over the articles of impeachment against President Trump.

They are making the case for and against impeaching the President.

If you're just catching up, here are some of the key quotes so far:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told GOP senators at a policy lunch yesterday that he will announce by the end of the week the date for the start of an impeachment trial in the Senate, sources told CNN.  

This will allow senators to depart Washington for a two-week holiday recess with certainty about when the trial will begin. We don’t know what that date will be but there are strong suggestions from pretty much everyone it will be the week of Jan. 6.

McConnell is expected to meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to begin hashing out an agreement on the rules and structure of the trial. Both have said they intend to meet but we it's unclear when that will happen. 

What the trial may look like: It appears both sides are interested in the general structure of the 1999 Clinton impeachment trial when House impeachment managers and the president’s defense counsel made opening arguments before senators haggled over whether to compel witness testimony.

The House debate on the articles of impeachment has roughly five more hours to go.

Both Democrats and Republicans still have a little more than 2 hours left to speak.

The debate is expected to conclude at about 7 p.m. ET. The vote on the articles of impeachment will happen after that.

Rep. Paul Mitchell, a Republican from Michigan, railed against the impeachment of President Trump.

Watch here: