SENATE VOTES TO PROCEED WITH TRUMP IMPEACHMENT TRIAL:

The Senate voted  56-44 largely along party lines to declare the impeachment trial of former President Trump constitutional, formally allowing the trial to proceed.

Six Republicans voted with Democrats to approve the constitutionality of the trial: Susan Collins of Maine, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.

As Tyler O’Neil notes at PJ Media, “On Wednesday, the Senate will begin to consider the arguments about the Capitol riot and whether or not Trump ‘incited an insurrection.’ The former president’s arguments against this claim are extremely powerful, and if Democrats conclude that Trump ‘incited an insurrection’ when he called for peace both before and during the riot, Democrats will have to accept responsibility for inciting the Black Lives Matter riots this past summer.”