By LISA MASCARO,

ERIC TUCKER and ZEKE MILLER

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Democratic House prosecutors launched their final arguments Friday at Donald Trump’s impeachment trial accusing the president of laboring to cover up his actions with Ukraine that finally led to the charges now against him.

“President Trump tried to cheat. He got caught. And then he worked hard to cover it up,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York. He told the senators there’s a “toxic mess at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” and it’s up to Congress to try to “clean it up.”

As Democrats pressed their case before skeptical Republican senators for a third day, the president’s legal team was preparing its defense, expected to start Saturday. Trump, eyes on the audience beyond the Senate chamber, bemoaned the schedule in a tweet, saying “looks like my lawyers will be forced to start on Saturday, which is called Death Valley in T.V.”

The Senate jurors faced another long day Friday armed with pens and paper — and, for Republicans, the gift of fidget spinners — for the historic trial.

The president is being tried in the Senate after the House impeached him last month, accusing him of abusing his office by asking Ukraine for politically motivated probes of political foe Joe Biden and Biden’s son while withholding military aid from a U.S. ally that was at war with bordering Russia. The second article of impeachment accuses him of obstructing Congress by refusing to turn over documents or allow officials to testify in the House probe.

Republicans have defended Trump’s actions as appropriate and are casting the process as a politically motivated effort to weaken him in his reelection campaign. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and acquittal is considered likely.

The Senate is heading next week toward a pivotal vote on Democratic demands for testimony from top Trump aides, including acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton who refused to appear before the House. It would take four Republican senators to join the Democratic minority to seek witnesses, and so far the numbers appear lacking.

“This needs to end,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump confidant. He said he doesn’t want to hear from Bolton or the Bidens.