McConnell and White House counsel agree to coordinate impeachment trial plans

While no final decisions have been made, McConnell and Cipollone agreed that when a trial begins, the House Democratic impeachment managers would have an opportunity to present, followed by the Trump’s lawyers presenting the President’s defense, the sources said.

At the conclusion of the presentations, the White House may provide its own briefing to Senate Republicans about the next steps it would want to see in the trial, including possible witnesses it would like to be called, the sources said.

McConnell would have the opportunity to gauge where his conference stood on the trial, including whether there were 51 GOP votes in place to bring the trial to a close and hold a final vote on the two House articles of impeachment.