President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial could begin at 1 p.m. on Inauguration Day next Wednesday as President-elect Joe Biden is being sworn into office. That’s according to a timeline of Senate procedure obtained by The Associated Press.

It’s the possible schedule if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sends the articles of impeachment to the Senate soon.

Meanwhile, all through downtown Washington, the primary sound for several blocks was the beeping of forklifts unloading more fencing.

There were no cars or scooters and seemingly no tourists Wednesday, just the occasional jogger and multiple construction crews at work. The U.S. Capitol that proved such a soft target last week was visible only through lines of tall, black fence.

Two blocks from the White House, a group of uniformed National Guard troops emerged from a tour bus and headed into a hotel as a state of lockdown descended on Washington that will last through the Jan. 20 inauguration.

We check in on what’s next in terms of impeachment, as well as national security preparations for the inauguration. 

With files from the Associated Press 

Guests:

Ron Elving, senior editor and correspondent on the Washington Desk for NPR News; he tweets @NPRrelving

Hal Kempfer, CEO of Global Risk Intelligence and Planning (GRIP), a management consulting firm based in Long Beach, and retired Marine lieutenant colonel; he has worked in military support for homeland security and defense both as an active member of the military and as a civilian 

Matt Barreto, professor of political science and Chicano Studies at UCLA; he was on the Biden campaign to direct their Latino polling and messaging research and is the co-founder of the political consulting firm LD Insights; he tweets @realMABarreto

Zach Courser, co-director of the policy lab and visiting assistant professor of government at Claremont McKenna College; he tweets @zcourser