Here ye, here ye, here ye, all persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment.

The Senate will receive the managers of the House of Representatives to exhibit the articles of impeachment against Donald John Trump, President of the United States.

Let us pray, divine shepherd, refresh our senators as they enter a new phase of this impeachment trial.

It's Julie Davis in the Washington Bureau of the New York Times.

So today, we entered a new phase in the impeachment trial where after the House managers got to make their case for three days uninterrupted,

now senators are finally able to ask questions.

Today the Senate will conduct up to eight hours, questions to the parties.

As a reminder, the two sides will alternate and the answer should be kept to five minutes.

It's this formal process where they still have to sit silently as they have been this whole time.

The Senator from Massachusetts sent a question to the desk.

But when they have a question, they can say that they have a question and they've written it down on these small cards which are then carried by hand to the clerk who hands it to the Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial, who reads the question aloud to whichever side it's intended for.

Question from Senator Markey to the House managers. On Monday, President Trump tweeted,

the thing is, senators keep submitting questions to their own side. And both sides were also clearly coordinating which of them would submit questions.

Mr. Chief Justice, I send a question to the desk on behalf of myself, Senator Mirkowski and Senator Romney.

The very first question of the day was from three of the moderate Republican senators who were known to be the most likely to vote with Democrats to hear from witnesses like John Bolton.

That's significant because the party wants to give first dibs to the senators who have the most concerns, both about the allegations against the president, but also about making sure the trial is seen as fair.

Thank you. Thank you, Council.

So that's pretty much how the day went. But the latest is what happened during one of these exchanges about an hour into the proceedings.

Senator Cruz. Mr. Chief Justice, I send a question to the desk.

It started with a question from Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

The question is addressed to Council for the president. As a matter of law, does it matter if there was a quid pro quo?

Is it true that quid pro quo's are often used in foreign policy?

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