Donald Trump has delivered his third State of the Union, a high-profile address made this year in the shadow of an ongoing impeachment trial and months away from the president's re-election.
The optimistic speech came just a day after Democrats oversaw a breakdown in its election processes in Iowa, where the 2020 Democratic primary season got off to a disastrous start that has still failed to deliver results nearly a day later.
But Mr Trump's speech was not without its own discord. Just before the address, the president was seen appearing to snub a handshake attempt from Ms Pelosi.
Then, after the speech, Ms Pelosi added to the night's drama by tearing up her copy of the speech, in plain view of the president and the cameras broadcasting the address across the nation.
The president had focused in his address on perceived victories over the past three years, and has remarked on his priorities for the coming year, reportedly including middle class tax cuts, school choice, immigration and the military.
He told one Philadelphia student that she would be getting a school scholarship, surprised a military family with the return of their soldier from Afghanistan and also instructed the first lady to give Rush Limbaugh the presidential medal of freedom, the highest honour for a citizen in the US.
Follow live updates
“This is simply a reporting issue. The app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results.”
The House Democrats drew on the Founding Fathers and common sense to urge senators - and Americans - to see that the president's actions are not isolated but a pattern of behavior that, left unchecked, will allow him to "cheat"' in the 2020 election.
Schiff called on those few Republican senators who have acknowledged Trump's wrongdoing in the Ukraine matter to prevent a "runaway presidency" and stand up to say "enough."
"For a man like Donald J Trump, they gave you a remedy and meant for you to use it. They gave you an oath, and they meant for you to observe it," he said. "We have proven Donald Trump guilty. Now do impartial justice and convict him."
The president's defence countered the Democrats have been out to impeach Trump since the start of his presidency, nothing short of an effort to undo the 2016 election and to try to shape the next one. "Leave it to the voters to choose," said White House counsel Pat Cipollone, again calling for an end to the partisan "era of impeachment."
Most senators acknowledge the House Democratic managers have essentially proven their case. Trump was impeached in December on two charges: that he abused his power like no other president in history when he pushed Ukraine to investigate rival Democrats, and he then obstructed Congress by instructing aides to defy House subpoenas.
But key Republicans have decided the president's actions toward Ukraine do not rise to the level of impeachable offence that warrants the dramatic political upheaval of conviction and removal from office. His acquittal in Wednesday's vote is all but assured.
Republican senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rob Portman of Ohio are among those who acknowledged the inappropriateness of Trump's actions, but said they would not vote to hear more testimony or to convict.
The House Democrats unveiled a striking case centered on Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, running an alternative foreign policy that drew alarm at the highest levels. As part of the "scheme," Trump held up $391m (£302m) in US aid from Ukraine, a fragile ally battling Russia, for his personal political gain, they argued. The money was eventually released after Congress intervened.
As Chief Justice John Roberts presided, the House managers opened with a plea from Jason Crow, a freshman Colorado Democrat and former Army Ranger: "We cannot and should not leave our common sense at the door."
"You will send a terrible message to the nation that one can get away with abuse of power, cheating and spreading of false narratives," she told them.
Before Trump's celebrity defence mounted its closing argument, the president himself already registered his views on Twitter, where he decried the whole thing - as he often does - as a "hoax."
Ken Starr, the former prosecutor whose investigation led to Bill Clinton's impeachment, complained about the inadequacy of the House prosecutors' "fast track" case.
One key Trump lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, who was forced to walk back a sweeping defense of presidential power in last week's arguments, did not appear.
Trump had wanted his acquittal secured before he arrived at the Capitol for his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, but that will not happen. Senators carrying the power of their votes to the history books wanted additional time to make their own arguments, in public speeches from the floor of the Senate. Those began on Monday afternoon and were expected to continue until Wednesday's vote.
Even new revelations from John Bolton, the former White House national security adviser, whose forthcoming book discloses his firsthand account of Trump ordering the investigations, did not impress upon senators the need for more testimony.
Bolton said he would appear if he received a subpoena, but GOP senators said the House should have issued the summons and the Senate did not want to prolong the proceedings.
Prosecutors relied on a 28,000-page report compiled over three months of proceedings in the Democratic-controlled House, including public and private testimony from 17 witnesses, among them current and former ambassadors and national security officials with close proximity to the Ukraine dealings.
The case stems from Trump's 25 July call with Ukraine that he maintains was "perfect." A government whistleblower alarmed by the call filed a complaint that sparked the inquiry.
"The president's behaviour was shameful and wrong. His personal interests do not take precedent over those of this great nation," Murkowski declared in a speech to a near-empty Senate chamber.
It was no surprise that the 62-year-old senator attacked House Democrats, accusing them of a slapdash investigation of Trump's actions toward Ukraine and his alleged withholding of American aid in order to pressure Kiev to investigate Joe Biden.
But Murkowski took on not only Trump, but also fellow Republicans, Senate Democrats and the media. Alluding to a "demon" burning its way through Washington during the impeachment process that began late last September, Murkowski blamed "a careless media" that she said "cheerfully tried to put out the fires with gasoline."
Long one of the few moderate voices in the Senate, Murkowski shocked the political establishment in 2010 when she became the first senator in more than 50 years to win re-election with a write-in campaign after the Republican Party tried to dump her in favour of a more conservative challenger. In the summer of 2017, Murkowski again was in the spotlight when she and two other moderate Republican senators - Susan Collins and the late John McCain - ruined Trump's push for a partial repeal of the "Obamacare" healthcare law.
On Monday she said, "I cannot vote to convict" Trump, and indicated a preference for a much softer penalty than the removal from office that Democrats have been clamoring for.
She went on to list transgressions on both sides of the political divide that she saw unfolding during this impeachment process, only the third in US history. She cited Trump supporters' eagerness to "have just dismissed the case as soon as it reached" the Senate and Trump's detractors' acting as if "the only way the trial could have been considered fair was if it resulted in the president's removal from office."
With a broad-brush criticism of both political parties, Murkowski spoke of their "apparent willingness... to destroy not just each other, but all of the institutions of our government. And for what? Because it may help win an election?"
Having castigated the House, the Senate, Trump and the media, Murkowski wrapped up her approximately 11-minute diatribe on a note of faint optimism: "It's my hope that we finally found bottom here."
Here's Trump putting the boot in over the Iowa debacle, as expected.
But will he be able to resist? I doubt it somehow. Especially given events in Iowa.
Please allow a moment for the liveblog to load