The Senate voted on Tuesday to move forward with former President Trump’s unprecedented impeachment trial, after hearing nearly four hours of arguments about whether it is constitutional to try a president who is already out of office.
The vote was 56-44.
The six Republicans who joined the Democrats in the vote to continue the trial were Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
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Trump’s legal team said the trial is unconstitutional because he is no longer in office and cannot be removed, which is the standard trial for an impeachment conviction.
“President Trump is no longer in office. The objective of the Constitution has been achieved. He has been removed by voters,” said Bruce Castor, a lawyer for Trump.
Another Trump lawyer, David Schoen, said the impeachment is debatable.
“Presidents are unreachable because they are removable,” said Schoen. “Former presidents are not because they cannot be removed.”
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House Democrats argued that not only is there no precedent for the impeachment process for an out-of-office federal employee, it is the right thing to do to hold presidents accountable.
They pointed to the 1876 corruption case of William Belknap, President Ulysses Grant’s secretary of war, who was impeached and was tried by the Senate after leaving office.
House prosecutors said the constitution applies to every day a president is in office, and Trump’s conduct as president cannot be ignored, even though he has stepped down.
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“History does not support a January exception in any way,” said Deputy Jaime Raskin, D-Md .. “So why would we invent one for the future?”
The Senate trial was suspended until midday on Wednesday.
Adam Shaw and Kelly Phares of Fox News contributed to this report.