The Senate on Wednesday voted to acquit President Donald Trump on both counts in his impeachment trial.
Forty-eight senators, including one Republican, voted to convict Trump on a count of abuse of power, while 52, all Republicans, voted to acquit him. The president was also impeached on the charge of obstruction of Congress.
The acquittal vote was the final step in a two-week trial marked by impassioned arguments from House Democrats that Trump was a danger to the nation, and stalwart support from Senate Republicans for a president who maintains a political stranglehold on their party.
Sen. Mitt Romney, who delivered a searing condemnation of the president’s actions earlier in the day on the floor of the Senate, broke with his party to vote to convict Trump on the abuse of power count.
The Democrat-led House voted on Dec. 18 to impeach Trump on two articles: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Trump was accused of abusing his power by pressuring Ukraine to announce probes into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, as well as a debunked conspiracy theory about interference in the 2016 election, while withholding nearly $400 million in congressionally appropriated military aid to the country.
Democrats say Trump was attempting to cheat in the 2020 election by coercing a foreign ally to smear his possible political opponent with the stain of a criminal probe. They also argue he obstructed Congress by refusing to hand over any documents in the House’s probe, and by pressuring potential witnesses not to comply.
But with the outcome of the Senate trial all but certain since its first days, the suspense turned instead to an up-or-down vote late in the trial over whether or not to admit additional evidence, which only needed 51 votes to pass.
For several days, Washington hung on the words of a handful of moderate senators, both Democrats and Republicans, who have broken with their parties on previous votes.
Two Republicans voted with Democrats to admit additional evidence, Romney and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, and the measure was defeated. Unlike Romney, however, Collins ultimately voted to acquit Trump of the charges against him.
Moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s last minute announcement that he would vote to convict on both counts came as a surprise on Capitol Hill.
Both sides, the White House and Democrats, had wanted to stake claim to a “bipartisan vote,” on their side. The president had sincerely hoped to convince at least one Democrat to vote to acquit him on at least one charge, so that the White House could have declared, technically accurately, that Trump had been acquitted by a bipartisan vote.
Ultimately, only Democrats will be able to claim a “bipartisan vote,” having convinced Romney to cross party lines and vote to convict Trump on the first article.
This scenario represents a reverse of the House impeachment vote in December, when no Republicans crossed party lines to vote with Democrats to impeach Trump, but several Republicans crossed lines to vote against the articles of impeachment.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1225170412675510278?s=20
(AP)
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13 Responses
In all fairness, if you asked George Washington (and friends) about it, he would probably say that virtually all 20th century presidents (perhaps excluding Harding and Coolidge) were guilty of abusing the powers of the president (and that the Congress was guilty of letting them do it).
I have a feeling that Romney is running for Democratic VP slot.
Now Pelosi can resign as promised. BYE, BYE! That nursing home is waiting for you.
She found a way to waste more tax payer money.
as a trump supporter for the things he gets right
what trump did w ukraine was terrible yet i dont believe we have a right to listen in on a pres. phone calls
as far as the lawyers on both sides – double talk liars i despise them using their brains to spin the facts – brilliant filth
finally ofcourse the demorats count care less about ukraine they just wanted to bury him
Mr. President:
The hoax is not over. It wasn’t over when the Mueller report found nothing. The villains working on this hoax have been obsessed with spending their elected time on implementing all their hate instead of legislating. They promised that after the acquittal, they will never stop investigating, and they will repeat the charade as often as it takes until they get voted out of power. Please do not think your problems from the deranged Dems are over.
The corrupt criminal now faces impeachment by the people.
Mazal tov. Surprise. Yawn.
rETAtD, you are right, people just gave Trump near 50% approval rating according to Gallop.
A man in office that won’t be held accountable for his actions and wants to be president beyond 2024…
It isn’t too different to a dictatorship.
Donnie Junior refers to the opposition as “the resistance”. How very France 1940s
rt, I’m not sure if you are referring to Adam Schiff or Nancy Pelosi?
Yeah just awful what he did in Ukraine.
Almost as awful as what Biden did in Ukraine.
Wait! Oh what? Trump didn’t actually carry through? Only Biden did?
Oh now I know why everyone wants to see Biden brought to justice.
Oh! Wait! They’re not calling for him to be brought to justice?
I’m so confused.
For an individual as individual To have a conscience ,
that a gentleman should be respected for his conscience,
and should vote accordingly
that is the Bedrock Foundation upon which the Republic is based
I believe Romney felt also an added obligation to
his father + the old Republican party that Romney remembered To vote the way he did
Due to the dire need of hit hard back at the postmodern postliberal democrat
we’re in Danger of giving up and abandoning the ends for the sake of the trumpian means And completely confusing it with the ends
this is even for someone Like myself who is relieved by the general vote for acquittal
That is the case even if it was a element Of political calculation for Romney
It may be of help in a general election if it gets that far but it will be a tremendous risk for the primaries now that he alienated the base as he was well aware of
those who are attacking him are no different than the anti Republic woke or totalitarian Democrats