Notably, Senate Minority Leader, who had in recent weeks entertained the possibility of convicting Mr. Trump, joined his Republican colleagues and voted against taking the trial forward.
All but five of the U.S. Senate’s 50 Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to block the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump from progressing, in a vote on the constitutionality of impeaching a former President. While Mr. Trump will be tried because 55 of the 100 senators voted to proceed, Tuesday’s vote cast doubt on whether Mr. Trump would be convicted — a move that would need 17 of the Senate’s 50 Republicans to vote along with their Democratic colleagues.
“I think it is pretty obvious from the vote today that is extraordinarily unlikely that the president will be convicted,” said Senator Susan Collins of Maine, one of the five Senators who voted against the motion to declare the trial unconstitutional. Mr. Trump is being tried on charges of inciting an insurrection…