Washington | Senate Republicans rallied on Tuesday against trying former president Donald Trump for “incitement of insurrection” at the Capitol, with only five members of his party joining Democrats in a vote to go forward with his impeachment trial.

By a vote of 55-45, the Senate narrowly killed a Republican effort to dismiss the proceeding as unconstitutional because Mr Trump is no longer in office. But the numbers showed that loyal Republicans are again poised to spare him from conviction, this time despite his role in stirring up a mob that violently targeted lawmakers and the vice-president on January 6 as Congress met to finalise the election.