Chief Justice John Roberts wasn't having it when a Senate Republican ally of Donald Trump ignored federal laws by trying to publicly name the "whistleblower" in the Ukraine drama that led to the president's impeachment.Conservative House and Senate GOP lawmakers for months have floated the notion of naming the intelligence officer whose complaint to a government watchdog about Mr Trump's 25 July call with Ukraine's president prompted House Democrats' impeachment probe.

The impeachment trial veered deeply into politics Thursday as Democrats said President Trump can't be trusted to be on the ballot this year — and Republicans accused them of trying to remove him in Congress because they know the voters would return him to the White House.

"We trust the ...

Lead impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff drew laughter in the Senate while discussing the Justice Department lawyers' response while in court over resisting House subpoenas.

Senators are taking their last shot Thursday to extract new information from the House prosecutors calling for President Donald Trump's removal from office, as well as the team of attorneys defending him.

The two-day, 16-hour process — at times illuminating, at times monotonous — represents the senators' only chance to have a voice in the Trump impeachment trial, at least until potential final deliberations.

Here are some of they key moments from Day 2 of the questions and answers offered in the Senate:

Can a president ask a foreign country to investigate a U.S. citizen?

The question

Are there legitimate circumstances under which a president can request that a foreign country investigate a U.S. citizen, including a political rival, who is not already under investigation by the U.S. government?

Who asked

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) asked the question to both sides.

The answer

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the lead House impeachment manager, said “it would be hard for me to contemplate” a circumstance in which such a request to a foreign government would be appropriate.

Trump lawyer Patrick Philbin said the question “assumes” that Trump requested an investigation of a political rival, adding that he believes the July 25 phone call memorandum between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows that Trump did not specifically ask for an investigation. Philbin said Trump was asking Zelensky to instead look into “the situation in which the prosecutor had been fired.”

He said there would, in fact, be circumstances under which such a request to a foreign government would be legitimate if there was a “national interest in having some information about that and understanding what went on.”

Why it matters

The fact that Collins asked this question shows again that she is keeping an open mind on the question of whether to vote to convict or acquit the president. The premise of the question presumes that Collins believes that Trump did, in fact, ask for an investigation of his rival — and therefore she wanted to know whether it’s ever appropriate to request such a probe.

Who's paying for Rudy's work?

The question

Who pays for Rudy Giuliani’s travel and work on President Donald Trump’s behalf?

Who asked

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) asked the question to the House managers and the president’s counsel.

The answer

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) replied, “I don’t know who’s paying Rudy Giuliani’s fees.” He then noted that Giuliani has said several times that his work was on behalf of Trump not in his capacity as president, but as a private citizen.

“The whole country is paying the freight for it,” Schiff added.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow responded, assailing Schiff for raising the issue and pivoting to claims about former Vice President Joe Biden. He also attacked three Democratic senators, whom he said had asked Ukraine to cooperate with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation amid reports that the government might be pulling back its support.

Why it matters

There have long been questions about how Giuliani has been paid for his work on Trump’s behalf — especially because he is not a U.S. government employee. Reed’s question underscored Giuliani’s unusual role as the president’s personal attorney, who also happened to be involving himself in U.S. foreign policy at Trump’s direction.

The pressure to end the debate in the president’s impeachment trial is coming from a closely-watched contingent: Senate Republicans up for re-election in battleground states.

While Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has said she favors hearing more evidence and witnesses —– which would lengthen the trial — the majority of Republican senators up in 2020 are urging the Senate to wrap it up.

"We've had 17 witnesses, from the House," said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) in an interview. "We do hear from people back home but they're like, ‘get this over with.’ That's what I'm hearing, is that we really need to wrap this up and get the American people's business done."

"I have two priorities, one is get the president re-elected and keep the majority in the Senate," added Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.).

Meanwhile Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), who are both up for re-election in purple states, released statements Wednesday saying it's time to move on. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also reiterated this week that he has “no problem, whatsoever, with voting ‘no’ on witnesses.”

The Senate is expected to hold a contentious vote on witnesses Friday.

Senators get first opportunity to ask impeachment managers and Trump’s lawyers questions

The senators' comments illustrate they’re not caving to pressure from Democrats who argue that public opinion polling supports their calls for witnesses. Their resistance to bringing in additional witnesses and documents highlight they'd rather spend their time talking about issues other than the present's impeachment trial. A vote for witnesses is also viewed as a break with Trump and could alienate his base.

Senate Democrats have made a concerted effort to push for witnesses during the impeachment trial, including Bolton and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. The New York Times reported Sunday that Bolton revealed in his upcoming book that Trump told him directly that he withheld almost $400 million in aid to Ukraine to pressure the country to help investigate his political rivals. But so far only three Republicans — Collins, Mitt Romney of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — have suggested that they’re open to hearing from Bolton. Only Collins is up for re-election this year.

Romney said Wednesday that he’s made his views clear and that his colleagues can make their own decisions.

Most Republicans argue, however, that they should not have to consider evidence that the House did not have when it impeached Trump in December.

“They're all in a no-win position,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) “Vote against the president on witnesses, they are going to lose a whole bunch of support amongst the base. That's real. So I think some of them are probably choosing the lesser of two evils. They get hurt politically no matter what they choose.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined to surmise at a recent press conference whether a vote against witnesses would hurt Republicans facing reelection in 2020, saying only: “we’re looking at the truth and we’re gonna let the chips fall where they may.”

Of the Republicans up in 2020, only Collins has indicated since the start of the impeachment trial that she’d likely want to hear from witnesses, as she did during the 1999 Clinton impeachment trial.

“I've said from the beginning that I felt that it was likely that we would need to call a couple of witnesses, treating each side fairly in order to clarify some ambiguities, answer some questions,” she said Wednesday. “And that remains my position.”

During a private lunch this week, some Senate Republicans up in 2020 warned that prolonging the trial would only tie them up from working on other issues, according to an attendee. And Gardner said during another closed-door meeting that Democrats were politicizing the trial, and cautioned “the longer this goes on and [is] used as a political tool, the more it divided the country,” according to his spokesperson.

Democrats, in their push for witnesses, have repeatedly argued the public is on their side. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that 75 percent of registered voters want the Senate to allow witnesses in the impeachment trial. That includes half of Republican voters. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, however, points to newly released data from Arizona, Colorado, Maine and North Carolina, which found that 62 percent of voters want Congress to focus on issues like health care or trade, instead of impeachment.

Senate Republicans are pushing back on the idea that a vote against witnesses would hurt senators up for reelection this year, noting that even if Bolton testified it wouldn’t change the outcome of the trial.

“Now that we’ve seen the case, most of the people running see that the case is shoddy, it’s circumstantial and that it would beg the question why others in the conference are maybe struggling with what to do,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.).

James Arkin and Burgess Everett contributed to this report.

These Democratic lawmakers don't seem to trust impeachment as a tool of oversight anymore.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that President Trump "cannot be acquitted" in his Senate impeachment trial unless senators vote to introduce more evidence and call on witnesses to testify because the trial will otherwise be invalid."He will not be acquitted. You cannot be acquitted if you don't have a trial," Pelosi said at her weekly press briefing. "And you don't have a trial if you don't have witnesses and documentation."The Senate is facing the possibility that Friday's vote on whether to call for witness testimony could end in a tie, forcing Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to cast the deciding vote.“That is a great unknown. There’s no way to know procedurally what he would do. Or if he’ll do” anything, said Republican Senator James Lankford."I would hope that the senators if it comes to a tie or if there's a question of hearing testimony or receiving documents would leave it up to the chief justice of the Supreme Court," Pelosi said Thursday. "I would think that they would have confidence in the chief justice of the United States."The speaker accused Republicans of being "afraid" of Roberts breaking a tie, calling it "interesting."Republicans had been confident for weeks that the GOP Senate majority would vote to continue the impeachment trial without witnesses. However, that plan was thrown into chaos earlier this week when the New York Times reported that former national security adviser John Bolton states in his upcoming memoir that President Trump told him specifically that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was contingent on the opening of an investigation into Joe Biden.Several Republican senators, including Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska signaled in the wake of the Bolton revelation that they will likely vote to call on him to testify. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reportedly told his caucus Tuesday that he lacks the 51 votes needed to block new witnesses.