Impeachment trial – live: Trump poured ‘kerosene on the flames’ as Pence family fled for lives, Democrats say

A longtime friend and business partner of Donald Trump is considering buying out his company’s share of two major office towers in Manhattan and San Francisco in a move that could damage the former president’s reputation—but also make him many millions and help protect against a wave of business debts coming due.

Vornado Realty Trust, run by Steven Roth, a friend and supporter of the former president has had internal discussions about buying out or otherwise ending the Trump Organization’s minority stake in two buildings: an office tower in Midtown Manhattan, and another in San Francisco’s financial district.

Josh Marcus reports.

A meeting of Palm Beach’s town council appeared to lean towards allowing Donald Trump to live full time at Mar-a-Lago despite objections from neighbours – though no vote took place at what was an informational session.

Those opposed to the former president residing at the private club cited an agreement with the town limiting the amount of time that members may stay there.

The town’s attorney pointed to a separate regulation that allows employees to reside on the premises that specifically mentions those that are “sole proprietors” of the club.

The Independent's Oliver O'Connell reports.

For Independent Voices, Noah Berlatsky writes Donald Trump’s attorney argued before the Senate that white men in America should be assured of power, privilege and success no matter how bumbling and immoral they may be.

"Bruce Castor didn’t make that argument literally or in words. Indeed, from his speech, it is unclear that he is acquainted with words, or with arguments, or with an ounce of self-awareness. Nonetheless, his very incoherence made the point with a mush-mouthed, meandering eloquent anti-eloquence."

Steve Bannon says Donald Trump’s impeachment defense strategy is not working and needs to be changed.

“The strategy is not working ... this is asymmetric information warfare: Democrats argue a coherent made-for-TV fantasy that works on an emotional level,” Mr Bannon said, according to the Associated Press.

“Lindsey Graham’s team argues the constitution and nobody cares. Changes needed and needed now."

Graeme Massie reports.

A lot has happened in the 12 months since everyone went through all of this with Donald Trump the first time, writes The Independent's Andrew Buncombe.

"Some may argue there is little point in holding the impeachment given Trump is unlikely to be convicted, and that it even gets in way of Biden’s agenda and impacts his efforts to act in a bipartisan manner. Yet, many Americans who watched on Tuesday as the trial opened, will have been startled by watching those scenes again. They will have been saddened by the assault on the Capitol, and the killing of a policeman. And no matter what happens to Trump, either this week or in 12 months from now, it is unlikely people will forget what happened on January 6, after a defeated leader told his supporters to “fight like hell”.

One America News Network denied claims Donald Trump Jr has bought a 50 per cent stake to turn it into a Fox News rival.

Conservative activist Brigitte Gabriel, President of ACT for America, claimed she was told of the purchase when she was around the former president's "inner circle" in Florida.

But the owners of the media company say they are “not looking” to sell, despite interest in it.

“We are very optimistic about our future and not looking to sell our family-owned and operated business,” Charles Herring, the president of Herring Broadcasting, told The Independent's Graeme Massie.

Jamie Raskin, the Maryland representative leading the impeachment case against former President Donald Trump, choked up on the Senate floor on Tuesday as he remembered the attack on the Capitol, which came the day after the funeral service for his son Tommy, who died by suicide on New Year’s Eve.

Mr Raskin remembered 6 January started out on a more hopeful note, as colleagues from both parties dropped by to console him after the funeral, a day he said in his speech was “the saddest day of our lives”.

“I felt a sense of being lifted up from the agony, and I won't forget their tenderness,” he said.

The Independent's Josh Marcus reports.

The opening day of the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump was an emotional rollercoaster for senators sitting through what was billed as a four-hour debate over the constitutionality of moving forward with the process, writes The Independent's Griffin Connolly.

"Senators trickled into a still-heavily fortified Capitol complex on Tuesday morning with nary a cloud in the sky, the Washington, DC, sun glinting off coils of barbed wire capping the eight-foot fence bordering the roughly four-acre holy ground of American democracy. The thousands of National Guard troops still stationed in Washington — taking shifts guarding that perimeter — have served as a constant reminder of the domestic, mostly right-wing threats still facing the US legislature roughly five weeks after the initial attack."

The Senate seems to have reached that rare unity and bipartisan agreement over the defence argument by Bruce Castor.

Here is Lindsey Graham echoing the shared sentiment, per the press pool: “I thought I knew where he was going and I really didn't know where he was going."