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The historic second impeachment proceedings against former US President Donald Trump have begun.
The process started on Tuesday with a four-hour debate on whether such a process is even constitutional, given that Trump has already left office.
However, with a vote on Tuesday evening (local time), the US Senate assessed the procedure as constitutional and thus cleared the way for the further procedure.
This will allow prosecutors and defense lawyers to present their arguments on the matter from Wednesday.
Trump's defense attorneys had argued that the impeachment process was unconstitutional because it was directed against a private individual.
The Democratic prosecutors oppose that even after leaving the White House, Trump must be held accountable for his actions as President - and banned from future offices at the federal level.
As things stand now, a conviction of Trump is not in sight.
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The House of Representatives started the trial on Tuesday with a nearly fifteen-minute video with dramatic scenes from January 6, when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol: rioters breaking through security barricades, smashing window panes, violently in boardrooms and offices penetration.
Police officers desperately trying to defend themselves against the overwhelming force of the intruders.
Congress officials and MPs trying to keep themselves safe from attackers.
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With their attack, Trump supporters had tried to stop a session at which Congress was supposed to certify the election victory of Trump's successor in office, Joe Biden.
Five people were killed in the riots, including a police officer.
Trump had recently incited his supporters at a rally that the election victory had been stolen from him.
Among other things, he said at the time: "If you don't fight like the devil, you will have no more land." With this statement, the video of the Democrats began.
"As a result, the House of Representatives launched impeachment proceedings against the president on January 13," House Democratic chief prosecutor Jamie Raskin said following the video.
"If this is not a crime that deserves impeachment, then nothing."
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Raskin reported emotionally and sometimes with tears about how he himself had experienced that day.
He brought his grown daughter to Congress the day after his deceased son was buried, he said.
He was afraid for his daughter.
Other MPs around him said goodbye to their relatives on the phone.
"They thought she was going to die."
The Democrats accuse Trump of “inciting a riot” and have initiated impeachment proceedings against him in the House of Representatives - supported by ten Republican MPs.
This procedure is managed and decided in the Senate.
The Congress Chamber takes on the role of a court.
Democratic MP David Cicilline presented a Jan. 6 tweet from Trump.
The former US president had written: "These are the things that happen when a holy landslide election victory is taken from such unceremoniously and viciously great patriots." He added the rioters should go home.
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Cicilline commented on the Twitter message with the words: "Whenever I read this tweet, I am deeply shaken." The then US president had allied himself with the "insurgents" and supported their cause.
Democrats want to hold Trump accountable
The impeachment proceedings against Trump are historic in several respects: The Republican goes down in history as the first US president to face two impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives during his tenure.
It is also the first time that an impeachment case is being conducted in the Senate against a president who is no longer in office.
Trump's lawyers wanted to stop the process right from the start - arguing that impeachment proceedings against a resigned president would not be constitutional.
The Democrat Raskin argued that a president should be held accountable for his actions until the last day in office.
Anything else would be extremely dangerous.
The Democrats also point out that the House of Representatives had already decided to open the procedure on January 13 - a week before Trump's departure from office.
In fact, there is some dispute among lawyers as to whether the proceedings against an ex-president are in accordance with the constitution.
The Congressional Science Service, however, concluded that most scholars consider it permissible.
And there is a precedent: US Secretary of War William Belknap resigned in 1876 just before the House impeachment vote to avoid trial.
The Senate started the proceedings anyway.
Democrats want to evoke dark memories
The prosecutors should do everything possible - as with their video at the beginning - to revive the memories of that January day, when senators had to get themselves to safety from an angry mob and partly feared for their lives.
Even loyal Trump companions from the Republican Party reacted stunned in the hours and days after the attack, blaming Trump for the unprecedented outbreak of violence.
Under the acute impression of the riot, an enormous dynamic against Trump initially built up.
The more time passed, the quieter the outrage from within.
The momentum against Trump seems to have evaporated.
Whether the prosecutors can get that back through haunting videos and impressions from January 6th is questionable.
It is expected that the Senate proceedings will only last a few days - until the weekend or the beginning of next week.
So far it is not foreseeable that a two-thirds majority could come about to condemn Trump.
This would require 17 Republicans to side with the 50 Democratic Senators.
And without a conviction - at least in this way - there is no suspension of office against Trump that would deny him a presidential candidacy in 2024.
Trump is following the proceedings from afar.
The 74-year-old retired from the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving the White House.
The request of the Democrats that he should testify under oath himself in the process, Trump has let down through his lawyers.
Unlike in the first trial, Trump cannot comment on what is going on in the Senate this time on Twitter - because his account has been blocked by the short message service.
The enforced restraint should help him in this case.