BREAKING: Senate votes to extend impeachment trial by calling witnesses

The Senate voted 55-45 to prolong the proceedings by allowing for witnesses on both sides.

According to Fox News, this could have a huge impact on the trial, since now lawyers on both sides will have to prepare several witnesses each. The impeachment trial could now potentially go on for weeks on end.

"The tectonic plates on Capitol Hill just shifted significantly. With the Senate vote for witnesses, this could potentially extend the trial for weeks. Both sides will need to depose witnesses, summoned on both sides as well as open the gates to 'discovery.'"

"Republicans really played into the hands of Democrats. A 50/50 vote, along party lines, by rule, would have lost. But Republicans used the math against Democrats today, joining them to make sure they stretch out the trial. This is not want Democrats wanted at all. They wanted to put the the trial to bed and get on with passing a coronavirus bill in the coming weeks. This could disrupt all of that."

"A Senate trial is supposed be a political forum. That’s what the Founders intended. A Senate impeachment trial is not like a traditional courtroom. But by shifting it to issuing subpoenas for witnesses, this tilts the field more to the traditional legal realm. That’s the turf of President Trump’s defense counsel team of Mike van der Veen, Bruce Castor and David Schoen."

"So, where this goes, no one knows. But the Senate vote stands."