Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump conviction unlikely because ‘jury includes his co-conspirators’

Former secretary of state lays out why she believes conviction unlikely

Hillary Clinton has weighed in on Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, with a blistering take on the proceedings.

In a post on Twitter on Wednesday, the former secretary of state hit out at Republican senators who supported Mr Trump's baseless election fraud claims ahead of the riot on 6 January.

“If Senate Republicans fail to convict Donald Trump, it won't be because the facts were with him or his lawyers mounted a competent defence,” she said.

“It will be because the jury includes his co-conspirators.”

The post quickly went viral on the platform, amassing more than 85,000 likes and 15,000 retweets in the hours after it was posted.

Read more: Follow all the latest Trump impeachment news live

The Democratic former first lady, who was Mr Trump’s rival during the 2016 election, has maintained a particularly terse relationship with the former president since his election win.

Her most recent clap-back comes in the midst of the beginning of proceedings for the historic second Senate impeachment trial against Mr Trump that officially began on Tuesday.

In order to secure a conviction, 17 Senate Republicans would have to vote against Mr Trump, and the outcome is seeming increasingly unlikely, as GOP senators close ranks around him.

While Republican members largely condemned the actions of the former president in the immediate aftermath of the riot, their attitudes appear to have tempered, with many speaking out against the House Democrat-led impeachment efforts.

Others, such as senator Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, who also condemned the Capitol violence in the aftermath, have been accused by Democrats and others of facilitating the atmosphere of election distrust that led to violence.

At least 13 senators planned to challenge Joe Biden's victory in at least six states during the certification of the election results on 6 January, backing baseless election fraud claims pushed by the former president as rioters breached the Capitol.

On Tuesday, the Senate ruled that the impeachment of a president no longer in office was constitutional, with six Republican senators have voted to proceed with the trial.

There is no set timeline for the length of an impeachment trial, and numerous factors – such as whether or not witnesses will be allowed to testify – can affect the time the proceedings take before a verdict is returned.