Impeachment vote sets up challenge for Biden and new Senate: Analysis
Ten is either a huge number or a stunningly small one, depending on one's views of the state of partisanship and Trump's culpability for his words and actions.
But 10 Republicans won't be enough to bring true consequences to the soon-to-be-former president. That will fall to the Senate, where the focus will be in the early days of the Biden presidency, now that the House voted in the quickest and most bipartisan impeachment in American history.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is making clear that impeachment will be Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's to handle, once they trade jobs late next week. McConnell's public statement not to have prejudged the outcome matters greatly at the outset of the coming trial.
All of the dynamics will be different by this time next week. Soon-to-be-President Biden will have appointees to confirm and a COVID-19 relief bill he wants passed; more will emerge about how last Wednesday's indignities came to pass; and the nation will know whether Biden will be allowed to take office peacefully in the end.
Plus, the Senate is just different than the House. There are different personalities and election cycles, different ambitions, more and different potential coalitions and partnerships, and an overall sense of more independence from presidents.
Trump's legacy has been sullied by the events of the past week and a second impeachment leaves its own permanent mark. But final and official judgments will fall to the body Biden knows so well -- and where he is likely to look to build his own presidential legacy starting quite soon.
-ABC News' Political Director Rick Klein