Donald Trump has made no mention of his impeachment in a video posted on the official White House Twitter account.

Instead the president railed against "the unprecedented assault on free speech" after his own accounts were banned from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

"The efforts to censor, cancel and blacklist our fellow citizens are wrong, and they are dangerous," he said.

LIVE UPDATES: Trump impeachment reaction and analysis

"What is needed now is for us to listen to one another, not to silence one another."

He did not make specific mention of his own accounts being deleted from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram after his posts were deemed to be encouraging violence.

Several other accounts affiliated with Mr Trump were blocked soon after as he sought a way to keep tweeting.

Yesterday YouTube announced it was suspending the president's account for one week for inciting violence.

"After careful review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to the Donald J. Trump channel and issued a strike for violating our policies for inciting violence," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.

"As a result, in accordance with our long-standing strikes system, the channel is now prevented from uploading new videos or livestreams for a minimum of seven days—which may be extended."

READ MORE: What's next for Trump after historic impeachment vote

Mr Trump also decried the violence on Capitol Hill immediately following a rally where he called on his supporters to march on the building in an effort to block the election results being certified.

"No true supporter of mine could ever support political violence," he said.

"No true supporter of mine could ever threaten or harass their fellow American."

He vowed that everyone involved in the attacks would be brought to justice.

EXPLAINER: Why Trump's impeachment is very different this time

He also warned anybody considering acts of violence in the lead-up to the inauguration of Joe Biden, though he did not say the president-elect's name.

"There must be no violence, no lawbreaking and no vandalism of any kind," the outgoing president said.

"In Washington DC we are bringing in thousands of National Guard members."

There are currently more US troops in Washington DC than in Afghanistan.

Earlier today 10 Republicans joined with the entire House Democratic caucus to impeach Mr Trump.

Mr Trump is the first president to be impeached twice.

EXPLAINED: The process of impeachment

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signed the articles of impeachment to be sent to the Senate "sadly".

"No-one is above the law, not even the president of the United States," she said.

"Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our country."

She also named a group of congress members who will serve as impeachment managers for the trial to be conducted in the Senate.

But Mr Trump won't be removed from office early as a result of impeachment, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying there is not time to.

"Given the rules, procedures and Senate precedents that govern presidential impeachment trials, there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week," Senator McConnell said in a statement.

"The Senate has held three presidential impeachment trials. They have lasted 83 days, 37 days and 21 days respectively."

Senator McConnell said the next seven days should be focused on an orderly transition.

By the time Mr Biden is inaugurated as president, Senator McConnell will lose his position as the Senate's leader, with the Democrats taking control.

President Donald Trump has been impeached again – the first leader in US history to be impeached twice by the House.

The question now is whether he'll become the first President to be convicted by the Senate and removed from office.

What's next?

Impeachment in a two-part process. The House introduces and passes the articles of impeachment, but the Senate is where the person being impeached faces a trial – and potential punishment.

LIVE UPDATES: At least 217 members vote to impeach Trump

What does the Constitution say about the Senate's role?

Not much. The passage is pretty straightforward. Here it is: "The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present." (Article 1, Section 3)

Are there rules?

Yes. The Senate has a set of rules first created around the impeachment of Andrew Johnson back in 1868 and then updated in 1986. Senators take an oath before the proceedings. There's a call to order each day.

READ MORE: YouTube suspends Trump account over violence

https://twitter.com/ccroucher9/status/1349470671785455616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The Chief Justice has specific duties. There are set time limits for arguments and rebuttals and all questions from senators for the House and Mr Trump lawyers must be submitted in writing and read by the Chief Justice.

How many votes were required to convict Trump?

Conviction requires two-thirds of those present. If all 100 senators are present, that's 67 senators. Assuming those two Georgians are seated, that means there are 50 senators from each party and 17 Republicans would be required. However! Pay close attention to the rules, which require two-thirds of those present.

READ MORE: How Donald Trump's impeachment is different this time around…and why he should be worried

If those two Democrats from Georgia are not yet seated, it might require 66 senators. If some number of Republicans didn't want to vote against Trump but also didn't want to vote to convict, they could skip the vote and change the ratio. That kind of thing has been known to happen, although not during impeachment proceedings.

When will this trial get started?

That's not entirely clear. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has indicated he will not bring senators back until the last day of Trump's term – January 19 – at the earliest.

https://twitter.com/senatemajldr/status/1349476803514146819?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

He has issued a statement outlining what he sees as the way forward.

Can the trial be conducted in a day?

Almost certainly not. This will take some days or even weeks for the group of House legislators who will make the case against Trump and his lawyers to answer. So a trial can't practically happen until after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20.

So Trump will be out of office before the trial ends?

Yes. The senators will vote on impeaching a former President.

What's the point of holding an impeachment trial for a former President?

There is precedent for impeaching former officials. While the main penalty for a guilty verdict in an impeachment trial is removal from office, senators could vote to bar Mr Trump from holding office in the future – remember, he has not ruled out running for president in 2024. He could also lose his six-figure pension and other post-presidential perks.

READ MORE: Trump heads to Texas border in final days to showcase wall

But Biden will be President. Won't the Senate be busy with other things?

Yes. Big time. They will be busy with confirmation hearings for Mr Biden's Cabinet nominees – at least four are already scheduled for the week of January 20.

Senators could be called on to draft legislation having to do with the pandemic or economic relief – Mr Biden wants to increase relief checks to US$2000. So impeachment won't be the only thing on their plate. And it's likely they'll only spend a portion of each day on Mr Trump's trial.

They could also, under the rules, appoint a special committee to hear the case, but this seems unlikely. One thing to keep in mind: While Mr McConnell sets the schedule as Senate majority leader now, he'll lose that status as soon as the results of Georgia's January 5 Senate run-off elections are certified and the two new Democratic senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, are seated. At that point, New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer will become Senate majority leader and will have more control over the proceedings.

Impeachment failed the first time against Trump. What's different now?

In a word, Republicans. In the first Trump impeachment trial, only one Republican senator – Mitt Romney of Utah – voted to remove him from office. This time, McConnell, rather than protecting Mr Trump, is said to be happy about the effort as a way to excise Mr Trump or purge him from the GOP. Will that lead to more votes to punish Mr Trump? It's not clear.

What's the historical precedent?

There have been three previous presidential impeachments, including Mr Trump's first. President Andrew Johnson was impeached, but survived the Senate trial by one vote after seven Republicans broke ranks with their party. Johnson did not win election after his impeachment.

READ MORE: Donald Trump rails against 'assault on free speech', doesn't mention impeachment

President Bill Clinton was impeached in his second term and was easily acquitted; less than a majority of senators supported removing him from office, far from the two thirds required. It was a similar result for Mr Trump's first impeachment, when only Mr Romney joined Democrats and less than a majority of senators supported his conviction and removal from office.

President Donald Trump has been impeached by the US House for an historic second time, charged with "incitement of insurrection" over the deadly mob siege of the Capitol in a swift and stunning collapse of his final days in office.

With the Capitol secured by armed National Guard troops inside and out, the House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump. The proceedings moved at lightning speed, with politicians voting just one week after violent pro-Trump loyalists stormed the US Capitol, egged on by the president's calls for them to "fight like hell" against the election results.

EXPLAINER: Why Trump's impeachment is very different this time

LIVE UPDATES: Trump impeachment reaction and analysis

Ten Republicans fled Trump, joining Democrats who said he needed to be held accountable and warned ominously of a "clear and present danger" if Congress should leave him unchecked before Democrat Joe Biden's inauguration January 20.

Trump is the only US president to be twice impeached.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a quick Senate impeachment trial for Trump but did not rule out that he might eventually vote to convict the now twice-impeached president.

A spokesman for McConnell said he had informed Democrats that he would block their effort to quickly call the chamber back into emergency session to put Trump on trial.

The House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump, and McConnell's move means the Senate trial was all but certain to be delayed until after Joe Biden's inauguration as president on January 20.

EXPLAINED: The process of impeachment

Ten Republican politicians, including third-ranking House GOP leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming, voted to impeach Trump, cleaving the Republican leadership, and the party itself.

Cheney, whose father is the former Republican vice president, said of Trump's actions summoning the mob that "there has never been a greater betrayal by a President" of his office.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invoked Abraham Lincoln and the Bible, imploring lawmakers to uphold their oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign "and domestic."

She said of Trump: "He must go, he is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love."

Holed up at the White House, watching the proceedings on TV, Trump took no responsibility for the bloody riot seen around the world, but issued a statement urging "NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind" to disrupt Biden's ascension to the White House.

The impeachment proceedings came one week after a violent, pro-Trump mob breached the US Capitol, sending members of congress into hiding and revealing the fragility of the nation's history of peaceful transfers of power.

READ MORE: What's next for Trump after historic impeachment vote

The riot has also forced a reckoning among some Republicans, who have stood by Mr Trump throughout his presidency and largely allowed him to spread false attacks against the integrity of the 2020 election.

While some have questioned impeaching the president so close to the end of his term, there is precedent. In 1876, during the Ulysses Grant administration, War Secretary William Belknap was impeached by the House the day he resigned, and the Senate convened a trial months later. He was acquitted.

Mr Trump was impeached in 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine but acquitted by the Senate in 2020.

More to come ….

With AP, CNN

WASHINGTON DC, USA: It was one of the most jarring images during Donald Trump's first impeachment, and it wasn't of the President.

Instead it was House Speaker and leading Democrat, Nancy Pelosi using dozens of pens to sign the articles of impeachment, before handing them out as souvenirs.

All this after Pelosi repeatedly declared how "sad" and "solemn" the occasion of impeachment was.

BREAKING: Donald Trump impeached for second time

It didn't matter that something similar occurred during Bill Clinton's impeachment, the pen incident angered Republicans, and reinforced many Americans' view that Democrats were engaging in partisan games.

History shows that the impeachment failed in removing Donald Trump from office, and only succeeded in uniting Republicans behind the President.

RELATED: Nancy Pelosi re-elected as speaker of US House of Representatives

Nancy Pelosi and her allies are going down the impeachment path again, and will hope to fare better in their fight to win over the public.

This time things are different.

LIVE UPDATES: Olympic swimmer charged with taking part in US Capitol riot

First, the genesis of this impeachment was broadcast live into living rooms, shocking Americans in the process.

In the first impeachment, not only did the accusations surround foreign aid and pressuring Ukrainian officials to open an investigation into Joe Biden, but the evidence was largely based on testimony.

While some of it, like the testimony from Colonel Vindman, was compelling. These were issues that didn't directly affect many Americans.

Adding to the Democrats case this time is the support from some Republicans.

READ MORE: What's next for Trump after historic impeachment vote

While a lot of focus has been on the President's speech preceding the riots, many in Donald Trump's party are more angry at the lack of action by him to stop the violence.

The President was at a rally in Michigan when the first impeachment vote was held and jubilantly announced that no Republicans in Congress voted to impeach.

This time, while the majority of Republicans are still arguing against impeachment, tellingly, most have not defended the President. Instead they are saying the impeachment proceedings are being rushed and are divisive.

Many of these Republicans are not innocent of hypocrisy either. Some are the same ones who stood by, or even promoted the false and divisive claims the election was stolen.

Ultimately, the fate of Donald Trump may well rest with Mitch McConnell.

The Republican Senate leader is the one to watch, as he alone can swing the numbers to convict the President which would almost certainly result in him being banned from holding office.

McConnell is known for playing a political long game, but this one is moving quickly.

EXPLAINED: The process of impeachment

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