Democratic House prosecutors made an expansive case at Donald Trump's impeachment trial that he abused power like no other president in history, swept up by a "completely bogus" Ukraine theory pushed by attorney Rudy Giuliani.
On Friday, the Democrats will press their final day of arguments before skeptical Republican senators, focusing on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress' investigation.
Trump's legal team is expected to begin presenting its defense on Saturday, a fact Trump bemoaned in a Friday tweet, saying "looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in TV."
As the audience of Senate jurors sat through another long day, and night on Thursday, the prosecutors outlined the charge.
They argued that Trump abused power for his own personal political benefit ahead of the 2020 election, even as the nation's top FBI and national security officials were publicly warning off the theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.
"That's what Donald Trump wanted investigated or announced this completely bogus Kremlin-pushed conspiracy theory," said Rep. Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who is leading the prosecution, during Thursday's session.
At the close of the evening Schiff made an emotional plea to senators to consider what was at stake as Trump is accused of seeking Ukrainian probes of political foe Joe Biden and Biden's son while holding back congressionally approved military aid as leverage.
"Right matters," he said, quoting Army officer Lt. Col. Alex Vindman who had testified in the House.
"Otherwise we are lost."
The president is being tried in the Senate after the House impeached him last month, accusing Trump of abusing his office by asking Ukraine for the investigations while withholding the aid from a US ally at war with bordering Russia.
The second article of impeachment accuses him of obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe.
Republicans, growing tired of the long hours of proceedings, have defended Trump's actions as appropriate and cast the process as a politically motivated effort to weaken him in the midst of his reelection campaign.
Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and acquittal is considered likely.
The Democrats' challenge is clear as they try to convince not just fidgety senators but an American public divided over the Republican president in an election year.
With Chief Justice John Roberts presiding, Democrats argued on Thursday that Trump's motives were apparent.
No president has ever used his office to compel a foreign nation to help him cheat in our elections, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the senators.
He said the nation's founders would be shocked.
"The president's conduct is wrong. It is illegal. It is dangerous."
Democrats scoffed at Trump's claim he had good reasons for pressuring Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden or other political foes.
Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Texas, herself a former judge, aid there is "no evidence, nothing, nada" to suggest that Biden did anything improper in dealings with Ukraine.
Trump, with Giuliani, pursued investigations of Biden and his son, Hunter, who served on a Ukrainian gas company's board, and sought the probe of debunked theories of what nation was guilty of interference in the 2016 US election.
It's a story line many in the president's camp are still pushing.
Giuliani, in an appearance Friday on "Fox & Friends," insisted he would present evidence on his new podcast of "collusion going on in Ukraine to fix the 2016 election in favour of Hillary" Clinton. Pressed by one of the TV hosts as to what that evidence was, Giuliani claimed he had "witnesses" willing to speak on the record next week.
Democrats seemed to be anticipating arguments expected from the president's attorneys in the days ahead.
At one point, they showed video of a younger Lindsey Graham, then a South Carolina congressman and now a GOP senator allied with Trump, arguing during Bill Clinton's 1999 impeachment that no crime was needed for impeaching a president.
Trump's defense team is now arguing that the impeachment articles against him are invalid because they do not allege he committed a specific crime.
The president's defenders' turn will come Saturday.
"We will be putting on a vigorous defense of both facts, rebutting what they said," and the Constitution, said attorney Jay Sekulow.
During their presentations, Democrats have been summarising much of the evidence and testimony already presenting during the televised impeachment hearings.
Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said the Democrats were putting forward "admirable presentations."
But he said, "There's just not much new here."
During the dinner break, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said it seemed like "Groundhog Day in the Senate."
The top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, acknowledged that many senators "really don't want to be here."
But Schumer said Schiff has been outlining a compelling case that many Republicans are hearing it for only the first time. He contended they can't help but be glued to his testimony.
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