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

The ex-president’s lawyers mounted a mostly procedural defence, arguing that the Constitution prohibits the Senate from putting former officials on trial, writes The Independent's Griffin Connolly.

Here are the three things you need to know from Day One of the second Trump impeachment trial.

1. Democrats denounce a ‘January Exception’ to impeachment
2. Managers invoke GOP authorities
3. Senators forced to relive a nightmare

Political observers were been glued to their TVs for Tuesday's impeachment trial, but Joe Biden won't be tuning in tomorrow despite the impeachment moving forward in the Senate, according to the White House.

"Joe Biden is the president," press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday, after being asked about the Trump team's legal arguments. "He’s not a pundit. He’s not going to opine on the back-and-forth arguments, nor is he watching them."

Josh Marcus reports.

Donald Trump was "screaming" at his TV during his lawyer Bruce Castor's meandering opening statement at his impeachment trial, reports say.

The ex-president was unhappy with the start made by his defence team at the opening of his historic second impeachment trial in the US Senate, according to CNN.

"Multiple people tell me Trump was basically screaming as Castor made a meandering opening argument that struggled to get at the heart of the defense team's argument," said CNN's chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

The ex-president watched the start of the impeachment trial at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Graeme Massie reports.

Video has resurfaced of Donald Trump repeatedly calling for the impeachment of former president Barack Obama during a campaign rally.

The former president, whose historic second impeachment trial is now underway, attacked Mr Obama at a New Hampshire MAGA event last year. Lawyers for Mr Trump have argued that the cannot be tried in the US Senate as he is now a private citizen.

But apparently Mr Trump did not believe that same standard applied to his predecessor while he himself was in the White House.

The ex-president told the crowd in Manchester, New Hampshire, that Mr Obama should be impeached for his promises on healthcare.

Graeme Massie reports.

The impeachment of former President Donald Trump may come to rely on precedent from a much, much earlier trial: that of Warren Hastings, the former governor of what was then the British colony Bengal, who was impeached in 1786, after he left office, for corruption.

On Tuesday, Democrats kicked off the impeachment trial in the Senate in part by arguing that the Founding Fathers knew about this precedent while they were writing the US Constitution and understood that impeachment trials could take place after the accused left office. They even flashed an image of Mr Hastings and a contemporary Philadelphia news clipping.

"The framers knew all about it, and they strongly supported the impeachment. In fact, the Hastings case was invoked at the convention," Maryland representative Jamie Raskin, the Democrats’ impeachment manager, said on Tuesday.

The Independent's Josh Marcus reports.

Six Republican senators have voted to proceed with Donald Trump's impeachment - joining with Democrats to argue the Senate does have the constitutional authority to try the former president.

The five Republicans who voted last month to let the trial proceed and did so again on Tuesday, were Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaaka, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraksa, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. 

As Mr Trump’s trial in the Senate got underway and Democratic members of the House presented evidence against him, an additional Republican, senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, joined them.

The Independent's Andrew Buncombe is following the story as it unfolds.

The Senate passed that the impeachment is constitutional on a 56 to 44 vote with six Republicans crossing the floor, including Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski.

Notably, Bill Cassidy voted that the trial is constitutional despite earlier voting for Rand Paul’s procedural motion.

The senate only needed a simple majority to move the impeachment forward, rather than the supermajority needed to convict.

The trial has adjourned until Wednesday.

Rebuttals will be heard tomorrow if the jurisdictional resolution passes.

In making the legal argument a former president can’t be prosecuted, David Schoen says that the precedent set by convicting private citizen Donald Trump could open Jimmy Carter to prosecution over the Iran hostage crisis.

“If there is no temporal limitation, that’s what they’ve suggested to you, remember, you can go back in time and impeach any civil officer who ever served for anything that occurred during the course of their service,” Schoen says.

“With the House managers' position, the concept necessarily includes all former executive officers and judges. Including perhaps the impeachment now of Jimmy Carter for his handling of the Iran hostage scandal, for example, that flows logically from their argument.”

Donald Trump's lead impeachment counsel Bruce Castor admitted the former president's legal team revised its opening strategy following damning video evidence and emotional and constitutional appeals from House prosecutors.

Mr Castor opened his remarks by praising US Senators before a "meandering" defense, which he said was initially intended to address impeachment jurisdiction, but appeared to be caught off guard by a powerful series of remarks from Democratic impeachment managers.

"I'll be quite frank with you, we changed what we were going to do on account that we thought the House managers' presentation was well done," Mr Castor said.

Alex Woodward reports.