Closing arguments in Donald Trump's historic impeachment trial are unfolding in the Senate as it heads towards its conclusion.
The House Democratic prosecutors claim that Mr Trump's actions were not isolated but part of a pattern of behaviour that, left unchecked, will allow him to "cheat"' in the 2020 election.
"What messages does that send?" asked Representative Hakeem Jeffries. He implored senators to realise that without a vote to convict, the Senate will "allow the president's misconduct to stand".
Senators acknowledge the House Democratic managers have essentially proven their case, that Mr Trump abused power and obstructed Congress by leveraging military aid to push Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden to thwart the 2020 election.
But key Republicans have decided the president's actions towards Ukraine do not rise to the level of impeachable offence that warrants the political upheaval of conviction and removal from office.
Mr Trump is expected to be acquitted in a vote in the Senate on Wednesday.
House managers opened on Monday with a plea from Rep Jason Crow, who told the chamber: "We cannot and should not leave our common sense at the door."
The former Army Ranger invoked the founding fathers and even Republican Barry Goldwater from the Nixon-era impeachment proceedings to say: "In America, no one is above the law, even those elected president of the United States.
"I would say - especially those elected president of the United States."
Rep Val Demings, a former police chief, argued that the president is not behaving like someone who is innocent. She warned he will try to "cheat" again ahead of 2020.
"Innocent people don't try to hide every document and witness, especially those that would clear them," she told the senators. "That's what guilty people do."
Mr Trump's team will have their own chance at closing arguments later on Monday, and the president himself has already registered his views on Twitter where he decried the proceedings as a "hoax."
The Senate proceedings are set against a sweeping political backstop, as voters in Iowa on Monday are choosing presidential Democratic primary candidates in early voting.
Mr Trump is also poised to deliver his State of the Union address on Tuesday in his own victory lap before Congress.
The trial unfolded over nearly two weeks and reached a decisive moment last Friday when senators voted against calling witnesses and documents.
Key Republicans said they had heard enough. It becomes the first impeachment trial in the nation's more than 200-year history without any witnesses.
Prosecutors relied on a 28,000-page report compiled over three months of proceedings in the Democratic-controlled House, including the public and private testimony from 17 witnesses, many current and former ambassadors and national security officials with close proximity to the Ukraine dealings.
