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US Senators rule that Trump trial is constitutional

The second impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump will proceed after the question of its legality was settled.

In a 56-44 vote in Washington Tuesday, mostly along party lines, Senators voted to proceed with the trial.

NBC News reported that six Republican Senators joined the entire Democratic Senate caucus in voting in favour of the trial continuing.

As the U.S. Constitution does not specifically state that a president has to be in office to be impeached, Trump's legal team spent much of Tuesday arguing that the process was unconstitutional due to the fact that Trump was no longer in office.

Trump, who left office on January 20, has been charged with one count of inciting an insurrection, accused of urging a crowd of supporters to march on the Capitol on January 6, the day Congress met in joint session to finalize the election victory of Joe Biden. The crowd stormed past police barricades and broke into the building, causing extensive damage and forcing members of Congress to suspend the vote.

Five people died in the violence, including a Capitol Police officer. Two other officers committed suicide in the weeks after the attempted insurrection, according to NBC.

Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin, acting as a House impeachment manager, used his time Tuesday to present a graphic video montage of the violence at the Capitol. The video shows Trump speaking to supporters, followed by images of the crowd storming the Capitol, attacking police, and shouting profanity at officers.

Trump is the third U.S. President to be impeached. He is also the first to be impeached twice, and the first after his term in office expired.

Impeachment managers from the House of Representatives are chosen to present the case against Trump, or prosecute. The former president has a legal team to defend him. The Senators act as the jury and vote on conviction. A two-thirds supermajority is needed to convict Trump, and a subsequent vote, with a simple majority, could bar Trump from ever running for public office again.

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