The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Trial ends with Trump acquitted by the Senate
IMPEACHMENT: President cleared of both charges despite some senators’ reservations
President Donald Trump has won impeachment acquittal in the US Senate, bringing to a close only the third presidential trial in American history.
A majority of senators expressed unease with Mr Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine that resulted in the two articles of impeachment.
But the final tallies – 52-48 favouring acquittal of abuse of power, 53-47 of obstruction of Congress’ investigation – fell short.
Two-thirds guilty votes would have been needed to reach the constitution’s bar of high crimes and misdemeanours to remove Mr Trump from office.
The outcome yesterday followed months of impeachment proceedings, from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House to Mitch Mcconnell’s Senate, reflecting the nation’s unrelenting partisan divide three years into the Trump presidency.
What started as Mr Trump’s request for Ukraine to “do us a favour” spun into a 28,000-page report compiled by House investigators, accusing the president of engaging in shadow diplomacy that threatened US foreign relations for personal, political gain as he pressured the ally to investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden ahead of the next election.
No president has ever been removed by the Senate. A politically emboldened Mr Trump has eagerly predicted vindication, deploying the verdict as a political anthem in his re-election bid.
The president claims he did nothing wrong, decrying the “witch hunt” and “hoax” as extensions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian 2016 campaign interference by those out to get him from the start of his presidency.
The vote was swift. With chief justice John Roberts presiding over the trial, senators swore to do “impartial justice” as they stood at their desks for the roll call and stated their votes.
On the first article of impeachment, Mr Trump was charged with abuse of power. He was found not guilty. The second, obstruction of Congress, also produced a not guilty verdict.
Only one Republican, Mitt Romney of Utah – the party’s defeated 2012 presidential nominee, broke with the Republican party – voting guilty on the first charge, abuse of power. He voted to acquit on the second.
Ahead of voting, some of the most closely-watched senators took to the Senate floor to tell their constituents, and the nation, what they had decided.
The Senate chaplain opened the trial with daily prayers for the senators, including one seeking “integrity”.
Influential Republican senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who is retiring, worried that a guilty verdict would “pour gasoline on the fire” of the nation’s culture wars over Mr Trump.
He said the House proved its case but it just did not rise to the level of impeachment.
Other Republicans siding with Mr Trump said it was time to end what Mr Mcconnell called the “circus” .
Most Democrats, though, echoed the House managers’ warnings that Mr Trump, if left unchecked, would continue to abuse the power of his office for personal political gain again ahead of the 2020 election.
Mr Trump’s approval rating, which has generally languished in the midto low-40s, hit a new high of 49% in the latest Gallup polling, which was conducted as the Senate trial was drawing to a close.