TV news will provide wall-to-wall coverage of the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, beginning Tuesday, Feb. 9, and continuing throughout the week.
The House of Representatives charged the 45th President of the United States with “incitement of insurrection” last month for his role in the deadly Jan. 6 domestic terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol.
What exactly are the rules for this trial? After four hours of debate Tuesday on the constitutional question, there will be a vote at a simple majority threshold to affirm the proceedings’ constitutionality. After that, each side has up to 16 hours to present their respective arguments. Then there are four hours for senators’ questions. If there’s a request for witnesses by the House impeachment managers, there will be four hours of debate after the question period, followed by a vote on whether to call a witness. There will then be four hours of closing arguments, evenly divided.
Advertisement
Then the vote on conviction or acquittal.
Here are TV news coverage plans for the trial. We’ll update this post as plans continue to trickle in.
ABC News:
- ABC News’ political team, including George Stephanopoulos, Cecilia Vega, Mary Bruce, Rachel Scott, Jonathan Karl, Martha Raddatz, Pierre Thomas, Terry Moran, Dan Abrams and Kate Shaw will report on the latest developments for the network.
- David Muir will anchor a special edition of “World News Tonight,” and Linsey Davis will anchor a special edition of ABC News Live Prime.
- ABC News Live will provide full gavel-to-gavel streaming coverage. Diane Macedo, Terry Moran, Davis and Kyra Phillips will lead streaming coverage with context and analysis from MaryAlice Parks and ABC News’ political team.
- ABC News Digital will provide up-to-the-minute live updates, a text and video examination of what’s at stake and how this trial is different from the first impeachment trial, a viewer’s guide to the trial, key takeaways from each day of the trial, and analysis of the political ramifications.
- ABC News Radio will offer extensive coverage, including live anchored coverage and hour-long prime time specials when developments warrant. Coverage will be anchored by Aaron Katersky, with Karen Travers at the White House and Elizabeth Schulze covering the Capitol. They will be joined by ABC News’ powerhouse political team of legal and political analysts including Rick Klein and Steve Roberts.
- ABC News Radio will also offer multiple status reports each hour throughout the proceedings and custom reports each day with affiliates.
- ABC News’ flagship daily podcast Start Here, hosted by Brad Mielke, will provide daily coverage, featuring the latest updates from ABC News’ reporters and analysts.
- ABC NewsOne, the affiliate news service of ABC News, will provide full coverage from Washington with Faith Abubey and Andrew Dymburt, with analysis from Travers and Klein. NewsOne provides news content and services for more than 200 ABC affiliates and international news partners.
CBS News:
- CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell will lead CBS News’ coverage of the second Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. The CBS News Special Report will air live tomorrow, Feb. 9 on the CBS TV. CBS News will air coverage each day of the Senate impeachment trial across its platforms.
- Contributing to CBS’ coverage will be CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett; chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes; senior political analyst and 60 Minutes correspondent John Dickerson; congressional correspondents Nikole Killion and Kris Van Cleave; chief justice and homeland security correspondent Jeff Pegues; and constitutional expert and CBS News contributor Jeffrey Rosen.
- CBS News Digital will deliver extensive coverage of the Senate impeachment trial at CBSNews.com and on the CBS News app, including a daily live blog, and across its social media channels. CBSN, CBS News’ 24/7 free streaming news service, will stream wall-to-wall live coverage of the impeachment trial with analysis leading up to and at the conclusion of the proceedings each day, utilizing its ability to deliver multiple live news streams at once to provide ongoing live coverage of the trial while also covering other news throughout the day.
- CBS Newspath, CBS News’ newsgathering organization providing news and information to 200+ affiliates nationwide and to broadcasters around the world, will feature extensive coverage and digital content on the trial. Natalie Brand, Skyler Henry and Debra Alfarone will report on the proceedings from the nation’s capital.
- CBS News Radio will provide stations anchored coverage of Tuesday’s proceedings in the Senate, led by Steve Dorsey in Washington, D.C., Stacy Lyn reporting from Capitol Hill and analysis from Leonard Steinhorn. When the trial is in session, CBS News Radio will deliver special reports and extensive reporting from Capitol Hill.
CNN:
- CNN’s special coverage, The 2nd Trump Impeachment Trial, starts at 12 p.m. ET with Dana Bash, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, John King, Abby Phillip, and Jake Tapper.
- Gloria Borger, Laura Coates, Ross Garber, and Norm Eisen will provide analysis throughout the day. Coverage will stream live, without requiring a cable log-in, on CNN.com’s homepage and across mobile devices via CNN’s apps for iOS and Android. It can also be viewed on CNNgo (at CNN.com/go on your desktop, smartphone, and iPad, and via CNNgo apps for Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Android TV, Chromecast and Roku) and will also be available on demand to subscribers via cable/satellite systems, CNNgo platforms and CNN mobile apps.
Fox News Channel:
- Kicking off the network’s coverage from Washington, D.C. at 1 p.m. ET will be FNC’s co-anchor of America Reports John Roberts alongside co-anchor Sandra Smith live from New York. They will be joined by chief political anchor and anchor of Special Report Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, anchor and executive editor of The Story.
- MacCallum will continue to helm FNC’s coverage of the trial during The Story and Your World’s Neil Cavuto will provide ongoing reporting at 4 p.m. ET. Baier will take over at 6 p.m. during Special Report. Analysis of the proceedings will continue throughout the evening.
- Contributions throughout the day will be provided by Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace along with chief legal correspondent and Fox News @ Night anchor Shannon Bream and contributors Karl Rove and former independent counsel Ken Starr. FNC contributor and former Assistant United States Attorney Andrew McCarthy will also offer constitutional expertise and legal analysis.
Fox TV:
- Additionally, at the start of the Senate trial on Tuesday, FNC will offer all Fox affiliates coverage from Washington provided by FNC’s Gillian Turner. Stations can also livestream the trial on digital and social platforms without interrupting their regularly scheduled programming.
MSNBC:
- Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist and guests will kick off MSNBC’s special coverage and preview the day ahead starting at 6 a.m. ET.
- Beginning at 9 a.m. ET, MSNBC Live anchors Stephanie Ruhle, Hallie Jackson and Katy Tur will lead live pre-trial coverage from the NBC News Washington Bureau on Capitol Hill.
- At 10:30 a.m. ET, Meet the Press Moderator and NBC News political director Chuck Todd and NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent and chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell and will take over impeachment coverage from the nation’s capital with MSNBC Anchor and 3rd Hour of Today Co-host Craig Melvin joining from New York.
- The 11th Hour’s Brian Williams and Deadline: White House’s Nicolle Wallace will anchor special coverage of the historic trial as the Senate gavels in, breaking in with the latest news and developments throughout the day.
- MSNBC’s chief legal correspondent and The Beat’s Ari Melber will be on deck to break down the proceedings and lay out the implications of a second impeachment of the former president.
- MSNBC prime time will continue special coverage and analysis of the day’s proceedings throughout the evening.
- The Week’s Joshua Johnson will pick up overnight coverage from midnight to 2 a.m. ET.
- Ahead of the trial, The Last Word’s Lawrence O’Donnell will host Trump On Trial on Monday, Feb. 8 at 10 p.m. ET – a one-hour special examining every detail of the trial before it commences in the Senate.
NBC:
- NBC Nightly News’ Lester Holt will anchor from NBC News Headquarters in New York and will be joined by Meet the Press moderator and NBC News political director Chuck Todd and NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent and chief Washington correspondent Andrea Mitchell from the network’s new Washington Bureau.
- NBC News Now will carry all the hearings live, beginning at 12 p.m. ET with a pre-show hosted by NBC News White House correspondent Geoff Bennett and continuing with wall-to-wall coverage through the evening.
- NBC News Now is available to stream live and on demand on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, as well as on The Roku Channel, YouTube TV, Fubo, Xumo, Pluto, Tubi and NBC News’ OTT apps on Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV. Viewers can also stream coverage live on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
PBS:
- PBS NewsHour will broadcast The Second Trump Impeachment Trial, A PBS NewsHour Special beginning at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, and going forward as proceedings take place. The special live coverage will broadcast on PBS stations nationwide and will be available in its entirety on PBS NewsHour’s digital and social platforms.
- Managing editor Judy Woodruff will anchor the special programming with contributions from Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins and White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, among other correspondents.
- NewsHour’s nightly broadcast and 9 p.m. ET update will include reporting and updates from the day’s proceedings.