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

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has told colleagues in an email he will vote to acquit Trump for "incitement of insurrection."

McConnell said, "While it was a close call" he believes impeachment is "primarily a tool of removal" and that the Senate now lacks jurisdiction with Trump out of office.

"The Constitution makes perfectly clear that Presidential misconduct while in office can be prosecuted after the President has left office, which in my view alleviates the otherwise troubling 'January exception' argument raised by the House," McConnell said in an email.

McConnell, on the Senate floor last month, criticized Trump for his behavior surrounding the attack on the Capitol.

"The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the President and other powerful people, and they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the Federal Government which they did not like," McConnell said at the time.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

House impeachment managers and Trump's defense team on Saturday are expected to deliver closing arguments, for which they each have two hours, followed by a final vote on whether Trump is guilty of "incitement of insurrection" -- but an 11th-hour push for witnesses may shift the trial's timeline.

Among other motions that may be called Saturday, there will be an opportunity to motion for witnesses, prompting two hours of debate -- and potentially, kicking off a behind-closed-doors deposition process.

Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. and Jeff Merkely, D-Ore., are two senators now expressing a willingness to entertain the idea, despite leadership from both parties previously signaling wanting a speedy trial. The debate comes as new details emerge of a phone call between Trump and House Minority Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, in a statement overnight said that McCarthy spoke to Trump as violent protesters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, but the then-sitting president refused to stop them.

"To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as these conversations were happening, or even to the former vice president: if you have something to add here, now would be the time," she said in a statement.

The Senate will reconvene at 10 a.m.

-ABC News' Trish Turner

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler tweeted out a statement Friday reiterating comments she made about a talk she had with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy regarding former President Donald Trump's involvement in the Capitol siege.

The congresswoman from Washington's 3rd Congressional District is one of the 10 Republicans in the House voting for Trump's second impeachment. 

In the statement, Herrera Beutler reiterated her claims (which she made earlier to Washington newspaper The Daily News) that McCarthy spoke to Trump as violent protesters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, but the then-sitting president refused to stop them.

"When McCarthy finally reached the president on January 6 and asked him to publicly and forcefully call off the riot, the president initially repeated the falsehood that it was antifa that had breached the Capitol," she wrote. "McCarthy refuted that and told the president that these were Trump supporters. That's when, according to McCarthy, the president said: 'Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.'"

Herrera Beutler said she's shared these details in conversation with various colleagues ever since she decided to vote for Trump's impeachment. 

She ended her statement by challenging those with firsthand knowledge of Trump's actions during the Capitol siege -- including former Vice President Mike Pence -- to come forward. 

"To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as these conversations were happening, or even to the former vice president: if you have something to add here, now would be the time," she wrote.

David Schoen, one of former President Donald Trump's impeachment lawyers, threatened to quit Thursday night -- just hours before he was to mount a defense of Trump's actions on Jan. 6.

The threat came as tensions grew among the team, specifically over how videos would be used in the defense and that some of the videos would be repeated multiple times, sources with direct knowledge told ABC News.

It wasn't until Trump called Schoen directly that he agreed to remain on the team. It also led to the speaking roles and order of the attorneys during the Friday defense presentation being altered, according to the sources.

Schoen and a spokesperson for the former president did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

-ABC News' John Santucci and Katherine Faulders