Former U.S. President Donald Trump left the White House nearly a week ago, but he continues to cast a long shadow over the Republican Party.

Trump still communicates strong populist backing even if he's no longer around. A procedural vote saw 45 out of 50 Republicans in the U.S. Senate vote to block an impeachment trial, saying it's unconstitutional because Trump is now a private citizen. The 100-member U.S. Senate is evenly divded between Republicans and Democrats, with vice president Kamala Harris the tie-breaker giving Democrats the majority.

Earlier this month the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives saw 10 Republicans join in impeaching Trump for inciting a mob to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Trump is the now only president ever to be impeached twice.

But the Senate vote, in which members of that body need a two-thirds majority to convict Trump on the impeachment, will find it very difficult to persuade 17 Republican senators to vote against the former president.

After the vote, Republican Senator Rand Paul crowed that the impeachment article delivered by Congress Monday was "dead on arrival."

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, for his part, dismissed the Republicans' claim as "flat-out wrong" and said it would provide a constitutional "get-out-of-jail free pass" for presidents guilty of misdeed.

After Tuesday's vote, the Senate will go into a holding pattern on the issue for two weeks, while Congress' impeachment managers and Trump's lawyers prepare their cases.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden gave his most extensive comments on Trump's impeachment since Biden took office, saying, "I think it has to happen," in remarks quoted by CNN.