WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ohio’s U.S. senators are divided on whether former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial should even be happening.

After hearing a few hours of arguments Tuesday from the House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team on whether impeaching a former president is constitutional, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) voted to proceed with the trial.

In recent days, Brown has argued it is constitutional and necessary.

“We’ve got to hold him accountable. The fact that most of the 50 Republicans in the Senate think it’s not important tells me a lot more about them than it does about our country or that it does about the whole constitutionality question which they simply have fabricated,” Brown said in a virtual interview Feb. 4.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) sided on Tuesday with 43 of his GOP colleagues in voting against moving forward with the trial, despite the fact that Portman condemned Trump’s behavior leading up to the insurrection Jan. 6.

In a recent interview on CNN, Portman explained his rationale.

“It can be inexcusable, and yet, not be subject to a conviction after a president has left office,” Portman said Jan. 31. “If you look at the Constitution, and there aren’t that many words about impeachment so it’s easy to do and I encourage your viewers to do so, it’s always connected with removal from office.”

Enough senators voted in favor to proceed with the trial Tuesday, so it will continue during the next few days. But it’s unlikely enough Republicans will join Democrats in voting to convict Trump — 17 would be needed, and only six voted the trial is constitutional.

Ohio Republican Congressman Bob Gibbs (OH-7) is glad most Senate Republicans are rejecting it.

“It’s clear that impeachment is used to remove a president from office, not one that’s already out of office. So this is unconstitutional, it’s a waste of time,” Gibbs said in an interview Feb. 3.

Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan (R, OH-4) is informally helping the Trump legal team.

In an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday, Jordan argued the former president should not be held responsible for the attack on the Capitol.

“The people who did the harm, they need to be held responsible,” Jordan said. “But I don’t think there was any kind of language from the president that provoked them or got them — incitement in any form whatsoever.”

The Senate impeachment trial will resume Wednesday at noon.