Roberts Admonishes House Prosecution, White House Defense

Chief Justice John Roberts drew little attention to himself while presiding at his first impeachment trial.

But just before 1 a.m. Wednesday, as tempers on the Senate floor had started to wear thin, he reminded everyone who was in charge.

A particularly tense exchange had passed between House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and President Donald Trump's lawyers.

Roberts told those in the chamber that it was an appropriate moment for him to admonish the Democratic House managers and the Republican president's counsel in equal terms to remember that they were addressing “the world's greatest deliberative body.”