Trump impeachment trial live updates: Biden says charge 'not in dispute' in 1st comments on acquittal

Sen. Bill Cassidy, D-La., was the lone Republican to switch positions this week, after previously voting Trump's Senate trial was not constitutional -- joining five other Republicans who voted with Democrats to affirm the Senate's authority to put a former president on trial.

Cassidy was asked on Thursday evening what he hopes to hear from the president's defense team when they take the Senate floor at noon on Friday and he pointed to the timeline managers crafted which showed Trump waited to take action to stop the Capitol violence.

"What I hope the defense does is explain that. If one of the charges was that you should have called out people you didn't, even though it was clear that the police officers were under assault, please explain that," Cassidy said.

He said he also wanted Trump's attorneys to answer for his continued false claims of election fraud.

"The point was made people felt as if they had no recourse because their vote was being stolen. The president built that story. So how do you defend that, how you describe that," Cassidy said.

He said he would listen to the defense before signaling whether he's leaning toward conviction. In Trump's last Senate impeachment trial, only one Republican, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, joined Democrats in voting to remove the president from office.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

As Trump continues to face an unprecedented second impeachment trial, here's how the impeachment process works.

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How the impeachment process works What does it take to remove a president from office?

ABCNews.com

Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., was asked Thursday evening if the House impeachment managers need to call witnesses or if they feel they’ve made their case.

"I think we've made our case," she said.

"I'm so contented that we put forward the very best case. It's up to the American people," Dean said in an exchange with another reporter. "The American people witnessed this, the senators witnessed this."

In Trump's 2019 Senate impeachment trial, Democrats requested to call witnesses, but Republicans blocked the move.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

After roughly 10 hours of arguments, lead House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., wrapped opening arguments for the group acting as prosecutors in the Senate trial against Trump.

"Mr. President, members of the Senate, first of all, thank you for your close attention and seriousness of purpose that you've demonstrated over the last few days. Thank you, also, for your courtesy to the House managers as we've come over here -- strangers in a strange land -- to make our case before this distinguished body," Raskin said with a light smile.

He reminded senators of their oaths to render impartial justice and walked them through their constitutional duties. He also reminded them that the Senate has already voted that the trial is constitutional, so their final votes on conviction should be based on the facts his team presented, not on whether they agree with the trial.

"Senators, I've talked a lot about common sense in this trial, because I think, I believe that's all you need to arrive at the right answer here," Raskin said. "When Tom Payne wrote 'Common Sense,' the pamphlet that launched the American Revolution, he said that common sense really meant two different things."

"One, common sense is the understanding that we all have, without advanced learning and education, common sense is the sense accessible to everybody. But common sense is also the sense that we all have in common -- as a community. Senators, America, we need to exercise our common sense about what happened," Raskin said, reaching out to Republicans in a divided Washington.

"Let's not get caught up in a lot of outlandish lawyers' theories here. Exercise your common sense about what just took place in our country," he said.

Raskin closed by telling the chamber, "Good luck in your deliberations."