After that, the House managers will march from their chamber across the Capitol, through the elaborately painted Rotunda under the dome, to the Senate chamber, to deliver a bound copy of the impeachment articles to senators assembled for the occasion.
Once the managers arrive, the Senate sergeant-at-arms will cry out “Hear ye! Hear ye!” and give senators a warning to stay quiet:
All persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment, while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States articles of impeachment against Donald John Trump, president of the United States.
One of the managers will then read aloud and in full the House’s two articles from the well of the Senate, before the whole team leaves.
Swearing of oaths: The chief justice arrives on the scene.
Next, senators will escort Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. into the Senate chamber. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the president pro tem of the Senate — the longest-serving Republican — will administer an oath to Justice Roberts, who will swear to administer “impartial justice.” Then Justice Roberts will ask senators to raise their right hands and agree to the same oath:
I solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God.
Each senator then must step up, one by one, to sign his or her name in a book attesting to the oath.
After that, the Constitution dictates little about how the proceeding should run. It does specify that in presidential impeachments, the chief justice presides for the remainder of the trial.
Senate rules in force for three decades dictate that the chamber meets for an impeachment trial every day at 1 p.m., Monday through Saturday, until senators reach a verdict or dismiss the charges.