A man holding an "impeach" banner walks near the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., the United States, Jan. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday started the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, a month after he was charged by the House with "incitement of insurrection."
The House, where Democrats have a majority, voted to impeach Trump over "incitement of insurrection" on Jan. 13, a week after his supporters stormed the Capitol Building.
Trump has rejected a request that he testify during the trial, and the former president's legal team argues that any conviction would be unconstitutional.
Tuesday's trial kicked off with a four-hour debate on the constitutionality of the proceeding followed by a vote, according to the agreement by Senate Republicans and Democrats, as well as the House managers and Trump's legal team.
If a simple majority of senators agree to move forward after Tuesday's debate, opening arguments will start on Wednesday.
Under the deal, the House impeachment managers and Trump's team will have 16 hours over two days each to present their case to the Senate.
Democrats argue Trump is guilty of inciting a deadly mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, breaking property and threatening lawmakers.
Republicans contend Trump's speech that preceded the riot was political boilerplate, and contained no language telling people specifically to behave violently.
The oral arguments will continue at least through Friday, but could extend into next week.
The trial is expected to conclude with closing arguments and a final vote on whether to convict or acquit Trump.
Senate conviction requires a two-third majority. Democrats, who only hold half of the 100 Senate seats, would need at least 17 Republicans votes to convict the former president.
Trump is the first president in the U.S. history to be impeached twice. In December 2019, House Democrats impeached Trump on two articles, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, over his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his family. He was acquitted by the Republican-led Senate in February 2020.
