Impeachment Is 'Dead on Arrival': 45 Republicans Vote to Reject Trump Trial as Unconstitutional

Senate Democrats voted on Tuesday to proceed with impeachment, rejecting a Republican attempt to block their Trump trial. But even though they won the vote, it's actually good news for the former president.

That's because 45 senators just voted to declare the impeachment effort unconstitutional. In other words, there don't appear to be enough votes to actually impeach Trump when the trial begins the week of Feb. 8.

Democrats accuse former President Trump of “incitement of insurrection”. House Democrats quickly voted without holding any hearings to impeach Trump on a single article of impeachment in the aftermath of the January 6th Capitol Hill riot, racing the clock before he could leave office.

Now Senate Democrats are planning to hold a trial even though Trump is no longer president.

So Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul forced his fellow senators to go on the record by trying to get the trial tossed out of the Senate as unconstitutional.

A legitimate Senate impeachment vote of Trump would require the support of all Democrats plus 17 Republicans or two-thirds of the Senate. But Tuesday's vote indicates there clearly aren't 17 Republicans willing to go along with it.

“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.