Ukraine-Gate affair culminates • 100 Senators will decide US fate • Charges: Abuse of authority and disrupt congressional proceedings • Evaluation: Due to Republican majority Trump will not be rejected

• Senate debates // Archive photo: IP

The trial against President Donald Trump comes at the moment of judgment tonight (Wednesday) when the Senate jury (i.e. 100 senators) convened to vote. Join the live show

Trump is charged with two counts of impeachment, following his alleged attempt to press Ukrainian President to launch an investigation against his rival Democratic Party former Vice President Joe Biden using improper motives and measures.

Photo: Reuters

Democrats say Trump has given massive US aid to a country that is fighting pro-Russian rebels by announcing the new president in Kiev to launch an investigation into the son of former Vice President Joe Biden (one of the Democratic primaries) for possible corruption in a Ukrainian energy company. The official indictments are: Abuse of authority and disruption of congressional proceedings.

The decision to prosecute Trump was passed by the House of Representatives in December, and it was the third time in history that a president is on trial.

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The U.S. Constitution allows the conviction of a president in an impeachment trial only if the prosecution has been able to prove that he has committed "treason, bribery or crimes and serious acts." The prospect of the Senate convicting Trump was nil since no Republican senator, except Mitt Romney of Utah, disagrees with Democrats whose crimes meet the constitutional definition of "grave acts."

Because a two-thirds majority in the Senate is needed, and in any case the Republicans control it, the outcome of the ruling is likely to be a full credit.