The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday to acquit President Donald Trump on two impeachment-related charges. Here's what could happen next.

The vote put to an end the weeks-long impeachment trial, which saw hours of arguments and bitter fights over whether witnesses should be called to testify.

U.S. President Donald Trump is on the verge of acquittal by the Senate, an end to only the third presidential impeachment trial in American history but coming at the start of a tumultuous campaign for the White House.

U.S. President Donald Trump was on the brink of ending the darkest chapter of his tumultuous presidency on Monday as the U.S. Senate began the final phase of his impeachment trial that will almost certainly conclude on Wednesday with his acquittal.

The cold open, titled "The trial you wish had happened," parodied a trial where witness testimony and new evidence were not voted down by the Senate.

The defence read parts of a rough transcript of a July call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that is at the heart of the impeachment case.

Closing out their case, House Democrats warned in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial that the president will persist in abusing his power and endangering American democracy unless Congress intervenes to remove him before the 2020 election.

Some Republicans who remained seated had another way to distract themselves, after small toys known as fidget spinners were handed out at a private lunch of party members before the hearing.

The daylong session started Tuesday with the setback for Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the president’s legal team, but it ended near 2 a.m. Wednesday with Republicans easily approving the rest of the trial rules largely on their terms.

Trump’s lawyers on Sunday previewed their impeachment defence with the questionable assertion that the charges against him are invalid, adopting a position rejected by Democrats as “nonsense.”