Trump denounced but acquitted of incitement
DONALD Trump was acquitted of inciting the horrific attack on the US Capitol, concluding a historic impeachment trial that spared him the first-ever conviction of a current or former US president.
The trial also, however, exposed the fragility of America’s democratic traditions and left a divided nation to come to terms with the violence sparked by his defeated presidency.
Barely a month since the deadly January 6 riot that stunned the world, the Senate convened for a rare weekend session to deliver its verdict, voting while armed National Guard troops continued to stand their posts outside the iconic building.
The quick trial, the nation’s first of a former president, showed in raw detail how close the invaders had come to destroying the nation’s deep tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power after Mr Trump had refused to concede the election.
Rallying outside the White House, he unleashed a mob of supporters to “fight like hell” for him at the Capitol just as Congress was certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
As hundreds stormed the building, some in tactical gear engaging in bloody combat with police, lawmakers fled for their lives. Five people died.
The verdict, on a vote of 57-43, is all but certain to influence not only the former president’s political future but that of the senators sworn to deliver impartial justice as jurors.
Seven Republicans joined all Democrats to convict, but it was far from the two-third threshold required.
The outcome after the uprising leaves unresolved the nation’s wrenching divisions over Mr Trump’s brand of politics that led to the most violent domestic attack on one of America’s three branches of government.
Mr Trump, unrepentant, welcomed his second impeachment acquittal and said his movement “has only just begun”. He slammed the trial as “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country”.
Though he was acquitted of the sole charge of incitement of insurrection, it was easily the largest number of senators to ever vote to find a president of their own party guilty of an impeachment count of high crimes and misdemeanours.
Even after voting to acquit, the Republican leader Mitch McConnell condemned the former president as “practically and morally responsible” for the insurrection. Mr McConnell contended Mr Trump could not be convicted because he was gone from the White House.
In a statement issued several hours after the verdict, Mr Biden highlighted the bipartisan nature of the vote to convict as well as Mr McConnell’s strong criticism of Mr Trump.
In keeping with his stated desire to see the country overcome its divisions, Mr Biden said everyone, especially the nation’s leaders, had a duty “to defend the truth and to defeat the lies”.