After nearly four hours of debate, a divided US Senate voted 56 to 44 to proceed with the historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump. House Democrats opened the trial with a chilling and dramatic video of the Capitol siege. The House impeachment managers warned that allowing Trump to escape punishment would establish a ‘January exception’ for presidents to betray their oaths of office. In their rebuttal, Trump’s defence team argued that the trial was not only unconstitutional but would 'open up new and bigger wounds across the nation' and was based on the Democrats not wanting 'to face Donald Trump as a political rival in the future'

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Trump impeachment: Senate votes to proceed with trial ► https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/09/trump-impeachment-senate-vote-trial

'He just rambled': Republicans unimpressed by Trump's impeachment lawyers ► https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/09/trump-impeachment-trial-lawyers-bruce-castor

Trump second impeachment: as it happened ► https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/feb/09/donald-trump-impeachment-senate-trial-live-news-updates

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