A total of 45 Republican senators have moved to vote to dismiss the second impeachment charges against former President Donald Trump.
According to The Guardian, the procedural vote was not enough to prevent the trial from going ahead. A total of 55 senators have voted that it should. However, the Democrats still need 67 senators for a conviction on a two-thirds majority vote.
Donald Trump spoke about his upcoming impeachment in the following address to the nation:Representative Rand Paul of Kentucky even went so far as to challenge the legitimacy of the trial, arguing that it was unconstitutional to put a former President on trial now that Trump's administration has come to an end.
Senators voted 55-45 against Paul’s point of order. This means that Trump's trial will proceed. However, only five Republicans voted to go ahead with the trial.
These included Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, Democrat House majority leader Chuck Schumer argued against Paul, stating:
Watch Trump's farewell address in the video below:"It’s been completely debunked by constitutional scholars from all across the political spectrum … The history and precedent is clear. The Senate has the power to try former officials.
"The theory that the Senate can’t try former officials would amount to a constitutional get-out-of-jail-free card for any president who commits an impeachable offense."
Per CNN, incumbent POTUS Joe Biden commented on the issue of Trump's second impeachment while speaking with reporters on the evening of Monday, January 25, stating:
"This nation also remains in the grip of a deadly virus and a reeling economy. I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with their Constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation. [sic]"
Biden added that he didn't think that 17 Republican senators would vote to convict Trump now that he was out of the office, in a briefer, separate interview conducted with a CNN reporter in the halls of the West Wing.
Per CNN, Biden stated: "The Senate has changed since I was there, but it hasn't changed that much."
In a statement made on Monday, January 35, lead impeachment manager and a constitutional law scholar Rep. Jamie Raskin stood before the Senate and informed the 100-member-strong body that the managers were prepared to argue that Trump knowingly incited the Capitol riots.
Raskin contended that a speech Trump made prior to the civil disorder on January 6 was what convinced a mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol building and interrupted the Congressional affirmation of Biden's victory in the 2020 Presidential election.
Raskin stated: "Donald John Trump engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting violence against the government of the United States."