Donald J Trump became the first president in US history to be impeached twice, after the House of Representatives.

The president was charged with inciting a riot at the US Capitol which left five people dead. 

With just days remaining before the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden, Donald Trump will now face a trial in the Senate. 

But what happens next, who are the key players and what is the likely timeline for the impeachment vote? We take a look at what could happen next.

What happens now the House has voted to impeach?

Although the House has voted to pass the article of impeachment, the Senate is where the president faces a trial and potential punishment. 

The Senate has the sole power to try all impeachments, but no person will be convicted without the agreement of at least two-thirds of the members present. This will require all the Democrats to vote for impeachment, but also, 17 Republican senators to join the 50 Democrat senators to achieve the required two-thirds majority.

Will Donald Trump be banned from future office?

The most likely impeachment option is to ban Trump from any future office, including the presidency.

Only a majority of senators would be needed to ban him from future office, unlike the two-thirds needed to convict.

READ MORE: Donald Trump impeached for the second time

What is impeachment?

Impeachment is the process which allows Congress to put presidents on trial, however, it is a political process rather than a criminal trial. 

Articles of impeachment are charges brought against a president by the House of Representatives. If the House votes to pass them, proceedings move to the Senate, which decides whether or not to convict.

READ MORE: Donald Trump impeachment: How does impeachment work and could it remove Donald Trump from office?

Mr Trump was the third US president to have been impeached, with Richard Nixon famously resigning before he could be impeached. 

What has been said about the impeachment so far?

Ahead of the impeachment vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “The President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country. He must go. 

“He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.”

House majority leader Steny Hoyer said: “There are consequences to actions, and the actions of the president of the United States demand urgent, clear action by the Congress of the United States.”

Representative Hakeem Jefferies, the Democrat caucus chair, summed up the president by saying: “Donald Trump is a living, breathing impeachable offence.” 

Making his last speech, Representative Cedric Richmond of Lousiana said: “In the first impeachment, Republicans said, ‘we don’t need to impeach him because he learned his lesson’. We said if we didn’t remove him, he would do it again. Simply put, we told you so. Richmond out.” 

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California said he would not vote for impeachment but added: “The President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.”

When could the impeachment trial begin?

President Donald Trump's impeachment trial could begin on Inauguration Day, just as Democrat Joe Biden takes the oath of office in an extraordinary end to the defeated president's tenure. 

Outgoing Senate leader Mitch McConnell has said the Senate will not begin a trial until next Tuesday, at the very earliest, which is the day before Democrat Joe Biden is sworn in as president.

It is unclear, for now, exactly how that trial will proceed and if any Senate Republicans will vote to convict Mr Trump.

Even though it is looking likely that the trial will not happen until Mr Trump is already out of office, it could still have the effect of preventing him from running for president again.

The trial timeline and schedule are largely set by Senate procedures and will start as soon as the House of Representatives delivers the article of impeachment. That could mean starting the trial at 1pm on Inauguration Day. The ceremony at the Capitol starts at noon.

READ MORE: Joe Biden Inauguration: What time does it start? Who is performing and does Trump have to attend?

Why is there a potential delay over transmitting the impeachment article?

Despite members of the House voting to impeach the President, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not said when she will take the next step to transmit the impeachment article, a sole charge of incitement of insurrection.

Some senior Democrats have proposed holding back the article to give Mr Biden and Congress time to focus on his new administration's priorities.

Mr Biden has said the Senate should be able to split its time and do both.

There have been suggestions that Biden’s presidency will be 100 days old before the decision is put to the Senate - however, as it currently stands, the impeachment trial will be the first for a president no longer in office. 

Will senators impeach Trump?

A big caveat is on the exact time of the vote. 

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell is open to considering impeachment, having told associates he is done with Mr Trump, but has not signalled how he would vote. His wife, former transportation secretary Elaine Chao, resigned from Mr Trump's Cabinet soon after the riots. He has suggested that the president committed impeachable offences and considers the Democrats' impeachment drive an opportunity to reduce the president's hold on the Republican party, 

Convening the trial will be among his last acts as majority leader, as two new senators from Georgia, both Democrats, are to be sworn into office leaving the chamber divided 50-50.

That tips the majority to the Democrats once Kamala Harris takes office, as the vice president is a tie-breaker.

In a note to colleagues, Mr McConnell said he had "not made a final decision on how I will vote" in a Senate impeachment trial. 

If Mr McConnell voted to convict, it is highly likely that other Republicans would surely follow. 

No Republican senators have said how they will vote however, but other Republicans have told Mr Trump to resign and few are defending him.

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, long a key ally of the president, has been critical of his behaviour in inciting the riots but said impeachment "will do far more harm than good".

Utah senator Mitt Romney was the only Republican to vote to convict Mr Trump in last year's impeachment trial, after the House impeached him over his dealings with the president of Ukraine.

There has already been some rebellion already in the votes. Ten Republicans joined Democrats in voting to impeach Trump, making the vote the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in modern times, more so than against Bill Clinton in 1998.

Ms Pelosi invoked Abraham Lincoln and the Bible, imploring representatives to uphold their oath to defend the constitution from all enemies, foreign "and domestic". 

Mr Trump was first impeached by the House in 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine, but the Senate voted in 2020 to acquit.

Every single House Republican voted against Mr Trump's first impeachment in 2019.

A conviction would require a two-thirds vote. 

What has Donald Trump said following the impeachment vote?

Clearly being advised by senior members of the GOP, Donald  Trump later released a video statement in which he made no mention of the impeachment but appealed to his supporters to refrain from any further violence or disruption of Mr Biden's inauguration.

He said: "Like all of you, I was shocked and deeply saddened by the calamity at the Capitol last week."

The president appealed for unity "to move forward" and said: "Mob violence goes against everything I believe in and everything our movement stands for. No true supporter of mine could ever disrespect law enforcement."

What has Joe Biden said about the impeachment?

Mr Biden said in a statement after the vote that it was his hope the Senate leadership "will find a way to deal with their constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation".

How is this impeachment different?

Of course, Donald Trump has now been impeached twice - the first president in US history to achieve such a feat. 

Unlike his first time, Mr Trump faces this impeachment as a weakened leader, having lost his own re-election as well as the Senate Republican majority - especially if the trial is conducted after Joe Biden is president.

The House charges in 2019 on Mr Trump's dealings with the president of Ukraine, whom he urged to investigate Joe Biden, came after a lengthy investigation and testimony from many government officials.

While Democrats unanimously criticised the conduct and charged Mr Trump with abuse of power, the charges wove together a complicated web of evidence.

This time, Democrats felt there was little need for an investigation - the invasion of the Capitol played out on live television, and most members of Congress were in the building as it happened.

Mr Trump's speech beforehand, in which he told his supporters to "fight like hell" against the election results, was also televised as Congress prepared to officially count the votes.

House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff, who led the last House impeachment team, said the insurrection at the Capitol was an "impeachable offence committed in broad daylight, in which the whole country was a witness".

He said the lightning-fast impeachment "was required by the exigency of the circumstances, and also made possible by the very nature of the crime".

READ MORE: The most memorable and controversial tweets from Donald Trump

What happens if the Senate convicts? 

If the Senate were to convict, lawmakers could then take a separate vote on whether to disqualify Mr Trump from holding future office.

Only a majority of senators would be needed to ban him from future office, unlike the two-thirds needed to convict.

What does the impeachment article say? 

The four-page article of impeachment says that Mr Trump "gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government".

The article says Mr Trump's behaviour is consistent with his prior efforts to "subvert and obstruct" the results of the election and references his recent call to the Georgia secretary of state, in which he said he wanted him to find him more votes after losing the state to Mr Biden.

Mr Trump has falsely claimed there was widespread fraud in the election, and the baseless claims have been repeatedly echoed by congressional Republicans and the insurgents who descended on the Capitol.