SENATE ACQUITS TRUMP OF ALL CHARGES OF IMPEACHMENT

Senate acquits US president on 2 charges, voting 52-48 and 53-47

WASHINGTON: As expected, the Republican-led US Senate has acquitted President Donald Trump in his impeachment trial, handing him a major political victory months ahead of the November 3 election.

The Senate voted 52-48 on Wednesday to clear him of abuse of power and 53-47 to let him off on obstruction of Congress.

In his first public comments after the acquittal, Trump said on Thursday he had been “put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people.” Addressing the annual national prayer breakfast, attended among others by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump said, “They have done everything possible to destroy us and by so doing very badly hurt our nation.”

“So many people have been hurt and we can’t let that go on and I’ll be discussing that a little bit later at the White House,” he added.

A dramatic development at the trial was when Republican senator Mitt Romney voted against Trump on the first charge of abuse of power. Taking to Twitter soon after the verdict, Trump described the outcome as the “Country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax”. He was clearly bothered about Romney’s vote, tweeting an attack ad video denouncing Romney as “slick, slippery and stealthy” and the “Democrats’ secret asset”.

A two-thirds majority was required to remove Trump from office, which was highly unlikely in a 100-member Senate controlled by the Republican Party with 53 seats.

The acquittal protects Trump from being removed from office, as sought by Democrats, but do not overturn his impeachment in the House of Representatives.

Trump will forever be counted as only the third American president to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999. No impeached US president has been removed from office yet.