US senate reaches deal to skip witnesses in Trump impeachment trial

Senate minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican legislators and staff talk on the floor of the US senate (AP)

US House Democrats began wrapping up their impeachment case against Donald Trump after a chaotic Senate session in which they gave up a late plan for witness testimony that could have significantly prolonged the trial, and delayed a vote on whether the former president incited the deadly Capitol insurrection.

An unexpected vote in favour of hearing witnesses threw the trial into confusion just as it was on the verge of concluding.