REPUBLICAN Senators have all but killed off Democratic hopes of impeaching former President Donald Trump – leaving the charge of inciting an insurrection "dead on arrival".
Only five members of Trump's party on Tuesday voted to go forward with the impeachment trial over his alleged role in inciting the Capitol siege on January 6.
In a 55 to 45 vote, Senators narrowly halted a Republican effort to dismiss the impeachment charge.
But the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of the 100-member Senate to convict – meaning it looks highly unlikely that Trump will be impeached once the trial concludes.
The impeachment hearings are scheduled to begin on February 8.
The Senate set aside an objection from Kentucky Senator Rand Paul that would have declared the impeachment proceedings unconstitutional.
“If more than 34 Republicans vote against the constitutionality of the proceeding, the whole thing’s dead on arrival,” Paul said shortly before the vote.
"'It's a farce, and it's not constitutional, and it shows the double standards because Democrats have had much more hateful speech, much more specifically inciting violence, and no one said a peep about it."
He added that Democrats “probably should rest their case and present no case at all" and labeled the impeachment as a "clown show" and a "stupid joke".
As such, Trump's impeachment will begin as scheduled on the week of February 8.
The 100-member group of US senators have now been officially sworn in as jurors for the trial.
Many Republican senators have challenged the legitimacy of the trial and questioned whether Trump's repeated demands to overturn Joe Biden’s election really constitute an “incitement of insurrection."
Paul called the vote "deranged", saying: “Private citizens don’t get impeached.
"Impeachment is for removal from office, and the accused here has already left office.
“I want this body on record — every last person here,” he added.
“Is this how you think politics should be?”
Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio all appeared on Fox News on Tuesday proclaiming that it was wrong to go ahead with the impeachment.
Rubio told Fox News' Neil Cavuto that it was a "stupid" waste of time arguing that it was damaging America.
"It's not even constitutional. Logic tells you that," he told Cavuto.
"The automatic consequence of impeachment and trial, if you're convicted, the automatic consequence is you're removed from office. That's the consequence.
"You can't remove Donald Trump from office. He's not in office."
Speaking to Sean Hannity on Tuesday Cruz said that the impeachment was "driven by the partisan rage and the partisan anger that the Democrats feel".
Meanwhile, Graham, 65, said the impeachment had been rushed through in the House without witnesses and is a "danger to the democracy and the presidency itself".
He said: "The President of the United States was impeached in 50 hours without one witness being called and he didn't have a lawyer.
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"We need to make sure this thing never goes anywhere … because I don't want to legitimize the impeachment process used in the House."
Among the Republicans who joined Democrats in voting to put aside the objection and proceed were Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Ms. Murkowski said: “My review of it has led me to conclude it is constitutional in recognizing impeachment is not solely about removing a president, it is also a matter of political consequence."
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