Trump announces new impeachment legal team

After 45 Republicans sided with his effort to dimisss the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump for being unconstitutional, Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul expressed excitement about the vote count for his failed effort.

"We're excited about it. It's one of the few times in Washington where loss is actually a victory," Paul said to reporters on Capitol Hill. "And 45 votes means that the impeachment trial is dead on arrival."

If the final vote on conviction falls at 55-45, the Senate would be 12 votes short of what is necessary to convict Trump. In order to convict Trump by the necessary two-thirds majority, at least 17 Republican senators would need to join all 50 Democrats.

Even with Tuesday's vote, there is no guarantee that the trial proceedings will not sway the votes of some senators.

Shortly after the vote, the Senate adjourned the trial until Feb. 9.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Five Republicans joined with Democrats to kill Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's effort to dismiss the upcoming impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump as unconstitutional. 

Paul's effort failed by a vote of 55-45. Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted with Democrats. 

While Paul's effort failed, many members of the Republican conference voted with Paul -- an indicator that the constitutional question for some Republicans will be an intense focus during the trial. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was one of those to vote in favor of Paul's motion.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a speech just before the vote, said the argument that an official couldn't be tried after leaving office makes "no sense whatsoever."

"The history and precedent is clear the Senate has the power to try formal officials and the reasons for that are basic common sense," Schumer said. "It makes no sense whatsoever that president or any other official could commit a heinous crime against our country and then could evade Congress's impeachment power." 

Paul's motion comes too early, Schumer said, arguing that debate on the constitutionality question should happen during the trial. 

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has offered a point of order in the Senate on the question of whether holding an impeachment trial for former President Donald Trump after he has left office is constitutional.

"As of noon last Wednesday, Donald Trump holds of the positions listed in the Constitution. He is a private citizen. The presiding officer is not the chief justice, nor does he claim to be," Paul said. "Therefore I make a point of order that this proceeding which would try a private citizen -- and not a president, a vice president, or civil officer -- violates the Constitution and is not in order."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Paul's theory "flat out wrong by every frame of analysis" and moved to table the motion.

Senators proceeded to vote on whether to table Paul's motion -- a procedural objection on the constitutionality of the trial, not on the merits of the case. However, the vote forces Republicans to go on the record regarding how they might vote in Trump's trial.

A "no" vote for senators means voting with Paul to dismiss the trial. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sided with Paul on questioning the trail's constitutionality.

Rand, a former doctor, was the only Senator who did not wear a mask as he signed the oath as a juror.

Biden has signed four executive actions to address racial equity -- dealing with private prisons, discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, tribal relations and fair housing.

In remarks at the White House, the president said systemic racism “has plagued our nation for far, far too long."

He signed an order directing the attorney general to not renew contracts the Department of Justice has with privately operated criminal detention facilities, a memorandum to address a rise in discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, a memorandum directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reinstate an Obama-era anti-housing discrimination rule that Trump had rolled back and an order that "reinvigorates the commitment of all federal agencies to engage in regular, robust, and meaningful consultation with Tribal governments."

Beyond what he was signing, Biden said "we need to restore and expand the Voting Rights Act, named after our dear friend John Lewis, and continue to fight back against laws that many states are engaged in to suppress the right to vote, while expanding access to the ballot box for all eligible voters." 

The president also called it “nothing short of stunning” when he discussed the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has had on minority communities.

Biden cited the impact George Floyd's death had on the nation as he rolled out Tuesday's actions, recalling meeting Floyd's 6-year-old daughter, Giana, who he said told him that "Daddy changed the world."

"Those eight minutes and 46 seconds that took George Floyd’s life opened the eyes of millions of Americans and millions of people all over the world," Biden said. "It was the knee-on-the-neck of justice, and it wouldn’t be forgotten."

Biden wrapped his remarks by reiterating a campaign theme, that the “soul of the nation” can’t recover if systemic racism continues. 

"We can't eliminate everything, but it's corrosive, it's destructive and it's costly. It costs every American, not just who felt the sting of racial injustice," he said.

-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky and Ben Gittleson