Six Republicans joined Democrats in constitutional impeachment of Trump

Trump, upset with arguments of his defense in impeachment 0:41

(CNN) -

Six Republicans joined Democrats on Tuesday in approving that the impeachment against former President Donald Trump is constitutional.

Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy was the only Republican to change his vote after an initial vote on constitutionality last month.

The final 56-44 vote marked the closing chapter of impeachment proceedings on Tuesday.

There was a pause in proceedings until noon on Wednesday.

All but six Republican senators voted that the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president.

It was the second time such a vote was held after Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, forced a vote on the same issue last month.

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These are the Republican senators who voted that impeachment was consistent with the Constitution:

• Susan Collins, Republican of Maine.

• Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana

• Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska

• Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah

• Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska

• Pat Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania

Cassidy told CNN on Tuesday after House prosecutors presented for the trial that it was a "very good opening" and that they made strong arguments.

During their presentation, impeachment prosecutors showed how rioters violently raped the United States Capitol and attacked police officers, invoking Trump's name as they attempted to disrupt the certification of the November elections.

"The House prosecutors were focused, they were organized," and "made a compelling case," Cassidy said after the vote.

In contrast, he added, “President Trump's team was disorganized.

They did everything they could except talk about the issue under discussion and when they did talk about it, they slipped away, almost as if they were ashamed of their arguments.

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Trump's attorneys' arguments against impeachment

Several Republican senators criticized the arguments offered by Trump's legal team, saying they were lackluster.

Murkowski said she "was really shocked by the first attorney to come forward on behalf of former President Trump," attorney Bruce Castor.

"I couldn't understand where I was going, I spent 45 minutes going somewhere, but I don't think it helped us better understand where I was coming from in terms of the constitutionality of this," he added.

"And I felt like [Trump's attorney David] Schoen did a… better job, but I think they surely missed an opportunity with their first attorney there."

Republican Senator from Texas John Cornyn bluntly told reporters: “I thought the president's attorney, the first attorney, just rambled over and over again and didn't really address the constitutional argument;

finally, the second lawyer did it, and I thought, he did an effective job. "

Cornyn quickly added, "But I've seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and it wasn't one of the best I've seen."

Izurieta thinks about how the impeachment trial could affect Trump or the Republicans 1:55

Trump was unhappy with Castor's opening argument in the Senate, according to two people familiar with his reaction.

Trump was almost screaming when Castor made meandering arguments that he struggled to get to the heart of his defense team's argument, which is supposed to be about the constitutionality of holding a trial for a president who is no longer in office.

Schoen, who spoke second, was initially going to present first, not Castor, according to two people familiar with the plan.

The Senate postponed the initial effort by Paul, a Kentucky Republican, late last month to force a vote on the constitutionality of the trial, but the vote offered an indicator of how Republican senators, who voted overwhelmingly for Paul's measure, they feel about impeachment.

Paul's motion was rejected on a 55-45 vote, with five Republicans joining all Democrats, meaning 45 Republicans voted for Paul's effort.

Romney, Sasse, Collins, Murkowski and Toomey crossed party lines to join the Democrats in that vote.

- CNN's Kristin Wilson, Jeremy Herb, Lauren Fox, Clare Foran, Ted Barrett, Kaitlan Collins, Annie Grayer, and Sarah Fortinsky contributed to this report.

Impeachment of Donald Trump