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The House of Representatives' Democrats prosecuting Trump in his second impeachment trial on Wednesday leaned heavily on the threat posed to Republicans, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, by hundreds of Trump supporters attempting to stop Congress from certifying his election defeat.

"Today's presentation was powerful and emotional, reliving a terrorist attack on our nation's capital, but there was very little said about how specific conduct of the president satisfies a legal standard," said Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

The Senate on Tuesday in a 56-44 vote rejected an attempt to declare the trial unconstitutional because Trump left office when his term ended on Jan. 20. That margin suggested Democrats face an uphill climb in trying to convict the man who still remains popular with Republican voters.

Oklahoma Senator James Lankford on Wednesday appeared emotional at his desk after Eric Swalwell, one of the House impeachment managers, finished his presentation. Another senator, Steve Daines, put his hand on Lankford's arm in what appeared to be a gesture of comfort.

But speaking to reporters later, Lankford struggled to connect the visceral images to any culpability for Trump, who in a fiery speech before the attack on the Capitol urged his supporters to "fight" his election defeat.

"He's had 100 rallies and we've never seen that before. So that's the tough one to be able to link together," Lankford said.

Separately, Florida Senator Rick Scott said he was "disgusted" by the behavior of the rioters.

But asked whether Trump bore responsibility, he said, "You know, I've watched what he said. He's never said that somebody should break in. He actually said that people should do this peacefully ... Look, this is a complete waste of time."

"It tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes," said Romney - a vocal Trump critic and one of just six Republican senators who voted to proceed with the trial - after viewing the footage, adding that he didn't realize the danger he was in at the time.

Another video shows former vice president Pence and his family being quickly escorted out of the Senate chamber and down a stairway after a crowd had forced entry into the Capitol.

Though Democrats presented the dramatic recordings as proof of the chaos caused by Trump's incendiary rhetoric, arguing he "incited" the riot with repeat charges of fraud in the 2020 race, some lawmakers across the aisle weren't impressed with the evidence.

"I've said many times that the president's rhetoric is at times overheated, but this is not a referendum on whether you agree with everything the president says or tweets," said Texas Senator Ted Cruz. "This is instead a legal proceeding."

They spent a great deal of time focusing on the horrific acts of violence that were played out by the criminals, but the language from the president doesn't come close to meeting the legal standard for incitement.

Another Trump ally, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), also met the footage with a yawn, saying: "Nothing new here, for me, at the end of the day."

During Day 2 of the unprecedented proceedings in the US Senate, several high-profile Republicans said Democratic impeachment managers from the House of Representatives had selectively quoted from Trump's speech to his supporters before they stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

"President Trump told protestors to 'peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,'" the Republican House Judiciary Committee tweeted.

"You left that part out. Wonder why?"

A similar sentiment came from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

"There's one line from President Trump's January 6th speech that Democrats keep conveniently leaving out: 'Peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,'" Meadows tweeted.

Former Trump campaign spokesman and adviser Jason Miller also tweeted: "'Peaceful and patriotic' - three words the Democratic House Impeachment Managers seem to have edited out of all their video clips."

Midway through Wednesday's session, House manager Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) noted that Trump's instruction for his supporters to "peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard" was a singular event during his speech.

"In a speech spanning almost 11,000 words — yes, we did check — that was the one time, the only time President Trump used the word peaceful or any suggestion of non-violence," Dean said.

"President Trump used the word 'fight' or 'fighting' 20 times, including telling the crowd they needed to 'fight like hell' to save our democracy."

During a break in the trial, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also accused the House managers of hypocrisy for focusing on Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election over unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

"[What] is going through all Republicans' minds is, 'But what about Hillary Clinton saying and telling Joe Biden, "Never concede"?'" Johnson said.

Confusion reigned in the final moments of Day 2 of former President Donald Trump's Senate impeachment trial on Wednesday when an angry GOP Sen. Mike Lee insisted he had been misquoted by House impeachment managers.

As the Democratic lawmakers closed their first of two days of arguments, Lee (R-Utah) rose to his feet and demanded they strike from the record an account the House impeachment managers gave of a phone call Trump mistakenly placed to Lee during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

"They are not true! They were false!" Lee said of the House managers' arguments. "I ask them to be stricken."

Media reports citing unnamed sources saying Trump called Lee during the riot when he had been trying to reach freshman Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama were used during the trial.

Tuberville also refuted that he had spent 10 minutes on the phone with Trump during the historic insurrection.

"I don't know if you've ever talked to President Trump. You don't get many words in," Tuberville told reporters outside the chamber on Wednesday evening.

"But he didn't get a chance to say a whole lot because I said, 'Mr. President, they just took the vice president out. I've got to go.'"

Sen. Lindsey Graham assured former President Trump the impeachment case against him is "over" during a phone call Tuesday night.

"The bottom line is I reinforced to the president, the case is over. It's just a matter of getting the final verdict now," the Trump-ally told reporters on Wednesday.

House impeachment managers are making their case that Mr. Trump incited an insurrection on Jan. 6 throughout several hours of legal arguments on the second day of Mr. Trump's impeachment hearing.

The trial opened on Tuesday with the two sides debating whether an impeachment trial for a former president is constitutional.

The Senate voted 56-44 that it was, allowing the proceeding to continue.

Six Republicans voted with Democrats in favor of the trial moving forward, and expressed praise for the House Democrats' arguments, saying they were strong.

Mr. Trump's legal team, though, says they do not plan on changing their strategy. Mr. Graham told reporters he expects more than 44 senators to vote for acquittal.

"I think the vote for not guilty will probably grow beyond 44," he said.

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"Hillary Clinton is a corrupt career politician who has recklessly handled classified information in an attempt to avoid accountability and put American lives at risk, including those of my former colleagues," he said. "She fails the basic tests of judgment and ethics any candidate for president must meet."

As for Donald Trump, he "appeals to the worst fears of Americans at a time we need unity, not division," McMullin said. "Republicans are deeply divided by a man who is perilously close to gaining the most powerful position in the world, and many rightly see him as a real threat to our republic."

McMullin's candidacy, backed by some Republicans, shows how the never-Trump movement is still working to upend him even with less than three months left until the general election. McMullin may be a long shot but will have an organization behind him, if unofficially.

He served as a Mormon missionary in Brazil and as a volunteer refugee resettlement officer in Amman, Jordan. After he left the CIA in 2011, McMullin went to work for Goldman Sachs in the San Francisco Bay Area and in 2013 became a senior adviser on national security issues for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

A spokesman for the House Republican Conference, Nate Hodson, said, "The House Republican Conference has zero knowledge of his intentions."