USA TODAY International Edition
“Only just begun”: What Trump said after his trial concluded.
Former president’s team says he’s not to blame
WASHINGTON – The Senate on Saturday acquitted former President Donald Trump a second time after a historic trial where House managers painted him as a threat after his supporters led the Jan. 6 riot in the Capitol, but Republican senators found the effort unnecessary for a president no longer in office.
A 57- 43 majority voted to convict Trump, falling short of the two- thirds required for conviction. Seven Republicans joined the 50 lawmakers who caucus with Democrats. Trump also was acquitted a year ago in his first trial about his dealings with Ukraine, when only one Republican joined Democrats voting to convict.
Trump was the first president impeached twice and the first to be tried after leaving office. He was only the third president tried in the Senate, with all being acquitted. But the Senate vote against Trump was the most bipartisan for conviction of a president in history – the others faced votes entirely from the opposition party.
The latest article of impeachment charged the former president with inciting the insurrection Jan. 6 at the Capitol, which left five dead including a police officer and a woman shot by police. Rioters rampaged through the building, interrupting the Electoral College vote count and searching for Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
House managers who prosecuted the case argued Trump should be convicted and disqualified from holding future office. The managers described how Trump spent months challenging the election results before encouraging his supporters the day of the riot to “fight” and “show strength” in protecting the vote count at the Capitol.
Pence was presiding in the Senate over the count that confirmed President Joe Biden’s victory when rioters breached the building. Minutes after the Secret Service evacuated Pence from the Senate chamber, Trump tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.”
House managers and Trump’s defense team agreed Saturday to allow a statement from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R- Wash., into evidence. She described a call from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R- Calif., to Trump, pleading for him to call off the mob. “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Beutler quoted Trump as telling McCarthy.
House managers argued that it demonstrated Trump’s indifference to the violence he unleashed.
“He knew how combustible the situation was, how many people in the crowd were ready to jump into action, to engage in violence at any signal that he needed them to fight like hell,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D- Md., lead House prosecutor. “They attacked this building, they disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, they injured and killed people, convinced they were acting on his instructions with his approval and protection.”
House managers said Trump stood by for hours without publicly calling for the mob to halt, which they argued meant he condoned the violence.
Raskin urged the Senate to convict and disqualify Trump from future office, to prevent more violence.
“If that is not grounds for conviction, if that’s not a high crime and misdemeanor against the Republic and the United States of America, then nothing is,” Raskin added. “President Trump must be convicted for the safety and security of our democracy and our people.”
Trump’s lawyers and most Senate Republicans argued that he couldn’t be held responsible for the mob’s violence. His defenders called the attack repugnant and said the rioters must be brought to justice. But Trump’s defenders said he called for a “peaceful” protest as he urged supporters to “fight” for the country.
“What took place at the U. S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was a grave tragedy,” said Michael van der Veen, one of Trump’s lawyers. “No matter how much truly horrifying footage we see of the conduct of the rioters, how much emotion has been injected into this trial, that does not change the fact that Mr. Trump is innocent of the charges against him.”
Trump’s defense argued his speech near the White House on the day of the riot was protected by the First Amendment. They argued that Trump couldn’t be blamed for the mob’s actions.
“At no point it their presentation, did you hear the House managers play a single example of Mr. Trump urging anyone to engage in violence of any kind,” van der Veen said. “At no point did you hear anything that could ever possibly be construed as Mr. Trump encouraging or sanctioning an insurrection.”
Most Republican senators also said the trial should not have been held after Trump left office. The Senate voted 56- 44, with six Republicans joining all 50 Democrats, to uphold the constitutionality of holding the trial this week.