The US Senate on Tuesday voted 56-44 to proceed with the impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump, rejecting his defence team’s contention that it is not constitutional to try a president after he has left office.
Six Republicans joined 50 Democrats in the evenly split 100-member Senate, clearing the way for the trial to begin on Wednesday.
House impeachment managers — nine Democratic members of the House of Representatives — will make their case for Trump’s conviction for inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.
Trump’s lawyers – Bruce Castor and David Schoen – condemned the January 6 violence at the Capitol, but they argued it is unconstitutional to try a president who is no longer in office.
They contended that the case against Trump is based on partisan politics and also said that Democrats had been obsessed with impeaching him.
