The US Senate voted to proceed with Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial by rejecting his legal team’s argument that the process was unconstitutional, although the overwhelming majority of Republicans backed the former president.

Just six out of 50 Republican Senators voted for a motion asserting that Trump could still be tried even though he is no longer in office, underscoring the slim odds that he will be convicted for inciting the deadly riot on the US Capitol on January 6.

The 56-44 vote in favour of the motion paves the way for the trial to begin in earnest on Wednesday, when Democrats will lay out their arguments against Trump. The result was almost identical to a procedural vote held last month, in which only five Republicans voted that it was constitutional to try a former president.