Trump not guilty, again
After a day of drama, Senate votes 57-43 to acquit former US prez over attack on Capitol
WASHINGTON : With not enough senators voting to convict him of inciting the riot at the US Capitol on January 6, Donald Trump has been acquitted, but will still go down in history as the only American president to have been impeached twice, and acquitted twice.
The motion to convict Trump for the riot received 57 “guilty” verdicts on Saturday, with seven Republicans joining all the 50 Democrats; and 43 “not guilty”, by all the remaining Republicans. A conviction, which would have barred him from holding any federal office in future, required 67 votes, or two-thirds of the 100-member chamber.
“While the final vote did not lead to a conviction, the substance of the charge is not in dispute,” President Joe Biden said. “This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant. That violence and extremism has no place in America.”
This was the largest bipartisan vote ever in the impeachment trial of a US president. And it reflected the growing disaffection with Trump in the party. Seven Republicans declared him guilty this time, compared to only one during his first impeachment trial in January 2020. Ten House Republicans had voted to impeach him this time, compared to none the last time, in December 2019.
Many of the Republicans who voted “not guilty” stressed they had done so only on a technicality — that the American constitution does not provide for convicting a president who is no longer in office. They denounced him roundly for his role in inciting the insurrection. Among them was Mitch McConnell, the top Senate Republican, who said Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for the Capitol invasion.
Trump thanked his lawyers and supporters in a statement and sought to play the victim, saying the trial was “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country”. He also indicated he will be back — “soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future”.
The acquittal may not, however, mark the end of Trump’s legal troubles.
“President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen,” McConnell pointed to it in his floor speech explaining his vote to acquit him. “He didn’t get away with anything. Yet.”
A Georgia county opened a criminal investigation last week into efforts by Trump to pressure election officials in the state to overturn his defeat. New York district attorney is investigating financial dealings regarding his signature Manhattan properties, a probe that started two years ago with the payment of hush money by the Trump campaign. And the Southern District of New York has been investigating a non-public probe, according to Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.
The House of Representatives had impeached Trump on January 13 on the solitary charge of inciting insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, when a mob breached the seat of American democracy to prevent a joint session of Congress from verifying Biden’s election victory.