Donald Trump’s post-presidency impeachment trial began on Tuesday in the United States Senate, where six Republicans voted in favor of taking him to task for allegedly inciting a deadly assault on the Capitol in Washington last month.

The Senate voted 56-44 to proceed with the trial after the six broke ranks with their party. A two-thirds majority is required to convict Trump, and with the 100 Senate seats now equally divided between the Democrats and the Republicans, at least 17 Republican senators are needed to support eventual conviction.

On the first day of the trial, Democratic lawmakers serving as prosecutors showed as evidence videos of Trump followers besieging the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman and lead prosecutor of the trial, cried as he recounted the chaos that day.

Raskin said his daughter and son-in-law were visiting the Capitol to witness the certification of Joe Biden’s election as the next U.S. president. The pair had to shelter under a desk in an office when hundreds of Trump supporters went on a rampage.

“They thought they were going to die,” Raskin said, recalling a message received from his family as he himself was trapped with others on the House of Representatives floor. Others around him were frantically bidding farewell to their families. “There was a sound I will never forget, the sound of pounding on the door like a battering ram. The most haunting sound I ever heard,” he said.

The mob was recorded on footage throwing down barriers, hitting police officers and trying to break into the building while lawmakers in both chambers scrambled for safety. “If that’s not an impeachable offense, then there’s no such thing,” he said.

Ahead of the trial, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer had described the allegations as the “most serious charges” ever levied against a president, and that the Senate had a solemn responsibility to hold him accountable.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that his term had ended, and there was nothing in the constitution empowering the Senate to impeach an ordinary citizen. They also said that the trial would polarize the country.

It is only the fourth time in history that the U.S. is putting its president through impeachment proceedings. Trump is the first to face a second impeachment trial, and the first to be tried after leaving office.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play