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Arguments begin Tuesday in the聽impeachment trial聽of former President Donald Trump on allegations that he incited the violent mob that stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6.

Below is a look at five key questions about what to expect when senators hear the case against Mr. Trump in the very chamber that was besieged by insurrectionists:

Will he be convicted?

It鈥檚 unlikely. While many Republicans were harshly critical of Mr. Trump for telling supporters to 鈥渇ight like hell鈥� and go to the Capitol, their criticism has since softened.

The shift was evident during a Jan. 26聽test vote. Only five Republican senators voted against a motion that was aimed at dismissing the trial.

It will take a two-thirds vote of the 100-member Senate to convict Mr. Trump of the impeachment charge, which is 鈥渋ncitement of insurrection.鈥� If all 50 Democrats voted to convict him, 17 Republicans would have to join them to reach that threshold.

Most Republicans have avoided defending Mr. Trump鈥檚 actions the day of the riot. Instead, lawmakers have argued that the trial is unconstitutional because Mr. Trump is no longer in office. Democrats and many legal scholars disagree.

After the January test vote, many Republicans indicated Mr. Trump鈥檚 acquittal was a foregone conclusion.

鈥淒o the math,鈥� said Maine Sen. Susan Collins, one of the five Republicans who voted to move forward with the trial. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he thought the vote was a 鈥渇loor not a ceiling鈥� of Republican support to acquit.

Still, some Republicans said they were waiting to hear the arguments at trial. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman voted for the effort to dismiss, but said that constitutionality 鈥渋s a totally different issue鈥� than whether Mr. Trump is guilty of incitement.

Can Mr. Trump鈥檚 lawyers mount a defense without offending the Senate?

It鈥檚 a tough needle to thread. Mr. Trump鈥檚 team probably will try to remove the emotion from the case and focus on legal and practical arguments against conviction.

In their first filing聽for the trial, his lawyers made clear that they will challenge the constitutionality of the trial now that Mr. Trump has left the White House. That could give an out to Republican senators who are inclined to acquit the former president without condoning his behavior.

The defense could also argue the trial is pointless with Mr. Trump no longer president, because removal from office is the automatic punishment for an impeachment conviction. Democrats note that after a conviction, the Senate also could bar Mr. Trump from holding public office in the future.

To the extent that defense lawyers are forced to grapple head-on with the violence and chaos of Jan. 6, they probably will concede the horror of that day but blame it on the rioters who stormed the Capitol. Mr. Trump鈥檚 lawyers assert that Mr. Trump never incited the insurrection.

Can impeachment managers get through to skeptical聽Republicans?

It won鈥檛 be easy. For the prosecutors, the bottom line is that the riot wouldn鈥檛 have happened without Mr. Trump, so he must be held to account.

It鈥檚 a simple case that Democrats feel doesn鈥檛 need to be exaggerated, especially because five people died amid the chaos, and senators were victims themselves. The Senate quickly evacuated just as the insurrectionists were pushing up stairwells close to the chamber. Once senators were gone, rioters broke in and rifled through the lawmakers鈥� desks.

In a brief filed this past week聽previewing their arguments, the House impeachment managers used stark imagery and emotional appeals to argue Mr. Trump鈥檚 guilt.

Their filing said senators were 鈥渇eet away鈥� from the swarming rioters, and noted that those outside 鈥渨earing Trump paraphernalia shoved and punched Capitol Police officers, gouged their eyes, assaulted them with pepper spray and projectiles.鈥�

In the House, the impeachment managers wrote, 鈥渢errified members were trapped in the Chamber; they prayed and tried to build makeshift defenses while rioters smashed the entryway ... some Members called loved ones for fear that they would not survive the assault by President Trump鈥檚 insurrectionist mob.鈥�

Those scenes will be brought to life at the trial. Prosecutors are expected to play video of the attack during their presentations.

Will we hear from Mr. Trump himself?

That doesn鈥檛 seem likely. He鈥檚 rejected through his lawyers a request by impeachment managers to testify. A subpoena seeking to compel his testimony isn鈥檛 expected at this point.

Mr. Trump also no longer has access to Twitter, which he relied on extensively during his first impeachment trial last year to attack the case against him and to retweet messages, videos, and other posts from Republicans haranguing Democrats.

With Mr. Trump at his Florida resort, his lawyers will be left to make arguments on his behalf. Democrats pledged to hold Mr. Trump鈥檚 unwillingness to testify against him at trial, but the argument may not resonate. It鈥檚 not clear that Republican senators 鈥� even the many who are likely to acquit him 鈥� really want to hear from him.

What happens if Mr. Trump is acquitted?聽

The likelihood of Mr. Trump鈥檚 acquittal worries some senators, who fear the consequences for the country. Some have floated the possibility of censuring Mr. Trump after the trial to ensure that he is punished in some way for the riot.

But there also may be another way for Congress to bar Mr. Trump from holding future office.

In an opinion piece published last month in The Washington Post, Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman and Indiana University law professor Gerard Magliocca suggested Congress could turn to a provision of the 14th Amendment that is aimed at preventing people from holding federal office if they are deemed to have 鈥渆ngaged in insurrection or rebellion against鈥� the Constitution.

The professors wrote that if a majority vote of both houses agree that Mr. Trump engaged in an act of 鈥渋nsurrection or rebellion,鈥� then he would be barred from running for the White House again. Only a two-thirds vote of each chamber of Congress in the future could undo that result.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.聽