[ad_1]
For Reuters 
2h ago
Richard Cowan, David Morgan and Makini Brice
Washington – The United States Senate acquitted Donald Trump on Saturday of inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol last month, saving him from conviction at his second impeachment in a year despite broad condemnation of his role in the unleashing of the deadly siege.
The Senate voted 57-43 in favor of condemning the former president, below the two-thirds majority needed to do so, on the accusation that he incited the insurrection that left five dead, forced legislators to flee and put his own. . vice president in jeopardy as he oversees Democrat Joe Biden’s certification of election victory.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who voted “not guilty” at the trial, offered scathing remarks about Trump after the verdict.
“There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” he said. “The people who broke into this building believed that they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.”
President Joe Biden said that while the vote did not lead to a conviction, the substance of the charge was not in dispute and a record number of Republicans had voted to convict Trump.
“This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile,” Biden said in a statement. “That it must always be defended. That we must always be vigilant. That violence and extremism have no place in the United States. And that each of us has the duty and responsibility as Americans, and especially as leaders, to defend the truth. and defeat “the lies.”
In the vote, seven of the 50 Senate Republicans joined the unified House Democrats in favoring conviction after a week-long trial in the same building looted by Trump supporters after hearing him deliver an incendiary speech on the 6th. from January.
During the trial, senators viewed graphic video of the assault, which included scenes of a police officer screaming in pain as he was smashed against a door, the crowd yelling “Hang up Mike Pence” while chasing the vice president, and lawmakers had almost Accidents with rioters such as security officers hastened elected officials into hiding for their own safety.
Trump left office on January 20, so impeachment could not be used to remove him from power. But Democrats hoped to get a conviction holding him responsible for the siege and set the stage for a vote banning him from holding public office again.
“The bottom line is that we convinced a large majority in the Senate of our case,” said Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democratic House attorney.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the Republicans’ refusal to hold Trump accountable would be remembered “as one of the darkest days and most dishonorable acts in our nation’s history.”
The swift end of the trial allows Biden to move forward with his agenda to boost the economy with a $ 1.9 trillion pandemic aid bill and further confirmation from members of his cabinet.
But the divisions on Capitol Hill and across the country over its controversial predecessor will remain.
“This has been one more phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country,” Trump said in a statement after his acquittal.
The 74-year-old Trump continues to control his party with a right-wing populist appeal and a “America first” message. The businessman-turned-politician has considered running for president again in 2024.
Republicans saved Trump in the February 5, 2020, vote in his first impeachment trial, when only one senator from their ranks, Mitt Romney, voted to convict and remove him from office.
Romney voted in favor of the conviction on Saturday along with fellow Republicans Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Ben Sasse, Pat Toomey and Lisa Murkowski.
“His actions to interfere with the peaceful transition of power, the hallmark of our Constitution and our American democracy, were an abuse of power and constitute grounds for condemnation,” Collins said after the vote.
DEEPLY DIVIDED NATION
The acquittal unfolded against a backdrop of huge divisions in a pandemic-weary America along political, racial, socioeconomic and regional lines. The trial provided more partisan warfare even as Biden has called for the unit.
71% of American adults, including nearly half of all Republicans, believe that Trump was at least partially responsible for initiating the assault on the Capitol, but only half of the country thought he should be convicted of inciting insurrection, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos. for Reuters.
Trump is only the third president to be indicted by the House of Representatives, a step similar to a criminal indictment, as well as the first to be indicted twice and the first to face impeachment after leaving office. But the Senate has never yet convicted an accused president.
Democrats went ahead with impeachment despite knowing it could overshadow the critical first weeks of Biden’s presidency.
The House passed the single article of impeachment against Trump on January 13, and 10 Republicans joined the House Democratic majority. That vote came a week after the pro-Trump mob stormed the neoclassical-domed Capitol, disrupted formal Congressional certification of Biden’s victory, confronted an overwhelmed police force and invaded the holy chambers of the House, and the Senate.
Shortly before the uproar, Trump urged his supporters to march on Capitol Hill, repeated his false claims that his election had been stolen through widespread election fraud, and told them “if you don’t fight like hell, you won’t go.” have one more country “.
During the trial, nine House lawmakers who serve as trial administrators, or prosecutors, urged senators to convict Trump for holding him accountable for a crime against American democracy and preventing it from recurring in the future. They said Trump summoned the mob to Washington, gave the crowd his marching orders, and then did nothing to stop the resulting violence.
Defense attorneys accused Democrats not only of trying to silence Trump as a political opponent they feared to face in the future, but of trying to criminalize political speech with which they disagreed.
The words Trump used, they argued, were no different than those commonly used by Democrats.
Trump’s acquittal does not end the possibility of another congressional action against him, such as a motion of no confidence, but Pelosi said such a move would leave Republicans who voted against the conviction “out of the woods.”
McConnell said Trump was now a private citizen and suggested he could still face criminal prosecution for his actions. “He didn’t get away with it. However,” McConnell said.
[ad_2]
