By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez | Arizona Republic
Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly voted with a majority of their colleagues Tuesday that it is constitutional to move forward with a trial of former President Donald Trump.
The simple-majority 56-44 vote came on the opening day of Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial after nearly four hours of debate. House impeachment managers sought to persuade senators that Trump should not be allowed to get away with inciting the angry horde of rioters who ransacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 after he summoned them to Washington, D.C. and then encouraged to them to march as Congress was certifying votes from the 2020 presidential election.
The House of Representatives on Jan. 13 impeached Trump for inciting the insurrection. Trump subsequently left office when his term expired on Jan. 20.
Neither Sinema, D-Ariz., nor Kelly, D-Ariz., elaborated on their votes Tuesday. Six Republicans joined all 50 Senate Democrats in voting to move forward with the trial.
Sinema and Kelly have not said how they will vote in the trial. But both have told The Arizona Republic in separate interviews that they believed Trump incited the mob.
“This was a violent insurrection incited by Donald Trump, and that is a fact,” Sinema said days after the riot. “If you listen to the president’s speech, that is what it is.”
The Senate will convene on Wednesday for the second day of the trial at 10 a.m. Arizona time.
