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Most of the senators found the former president guilty, the necessary two-thirds majority was not achieved.
Almost six weeks after the storming of the Capitol by angry Donald Trump supporters, the US Senate cleared the former president of “incitement to revolt” in the impeachment process. A majority of 57 senators voted Saturday after just five days of negotiations for a conviction of the Republican, but did not get the two-thirds majority of 67 votes necessary for a Senate conviction.
50 Democrats and seven Republicans voted to convict Trump. Democrats had launched impeachment proceedings over Trump’s role in the assault on the Capitol on January 6. They also wanted to make sure that the president, who has since stepped down, is barred from future political office at the federal level. This would have made it impossible for Trump to run again for president in the 2024 election.
The so-called impeachment process has been in the Senate since Tuesday. The House of Congress assumed the role of a tribunal. Although many Republicans also criticized Trump for his role in the events of January 6, a conviction seemed unlikely. To do this, 17 Republicans would have had to join the 50 Democrats. However, the seven dissidents represented the largest simultaneous support from both major parties that has ever existed in an impeachment trial.
Biden condemns extremism
US President Joe Biden condemned extremism after his predecessor was acquitted. Think of those who lost their lives in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, the Democrat said Saturday night (local time). “This sad chapter in our history reminds us of how fragile democracy is,” Biden said. Violence and extremism had no place in the United States.
Trump himself was pleased and used his acquittal to announce that his political movement was just beginning, calling the process against him a “witch hunt.” “Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to make America great again has just begun,” said the Republican. “There has never been anything like it!” Trump thanked Republican senators for the acquittal. Democrats tried to undermine the rule of law.
On January 6, supporters of the president-elect stormed the Capitol. Congress met there to officially confirm the electoral victory of Trump’s successor, Biden. Five people were killed in the riots, including a police officer. Trump had incited his supporters immediately before they had stolen his election victory. Among other things, he said: “If you don’t fight like the devil, you will have no more land.”
“Shame in Senate History”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer harshly criticized his Republican colleagues. “January 6 will be a day of shame in the history of the United States of America. The failure to convict Donald Trump will go down in the history of the United States Senate as a shame.”
Inciting an attack on the seat of Congress is “the most despicable act ever committed by a president,” Schumer continued. And yet most Republicans couldn’t muster the courage to condemn them. House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke of a “cowardly bunch of Republicans.” Meanwhile, one of the seven Republican dissidents, Senator Ben Sasse, declared his vote that Trump’s lies about the outcome of the November election violated his oath.
Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Trump “practically and morally” responsible for the assault on the Capitol by his supporters, although he himself voted “not guilty.” Trump incited this for weeks with lies about his supposedly won election, McConnell said of his party colleagues. However, the senator had voted against a Trump conviction because he considered the process unconstitutional after the end of Trump’s term.
Ahead of the Senate vote, Chief Attorney Jamie Raskin said the burden of proof of Trump’s responsibility for his supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6 was “overwhelming and irrefutable.” Congressman Joe Neguse warned that the violence may have “been just the beginning.” However, Trump’s lawyer, Michael van der Veen, described the former president as innocent: “At no time has he heard anything that could be construed as encouragement or approval for a riot by Trump”; any statement to the contrary is “. absurd”.
“Absurd and monstrous lies”
Probably also due to the low probability of a Trump conviction, the Senate completed the proceedings in record time and waived the hearing of additional witnesses and evidence. Senators on Saturday voted to question witnesses, briefly causing confusion and ultimately being rejected. Both parties had an interest in bringing the impeachment to a speedy conclusion. Democrats wanted to prevent the trial from overshadowing the start of President Joe Biden’s term and blocking the Senate. For Republicans, a lengthy process didn’t seem desirable either: They want to start the post-Trump era.
The House of Representatives had detailed its allegations against Trump using dramatic video recordings and meticulous narration of the attack on Capitol Hill. He accuses Trump of having prepared the ground for the attack for months with his accusations of voter fraud and, ultimately, of having deliberately instigated the outbreak of violence. They also accused him of showing no remorse.
Trump’s defense attorneys had rejected the allegations against the former president on Friday in a presentation of just three hours. It is an unfair, unconstitutional and politically motivated process, said attorney Michael van der Veen. The claims that Trump incited the protesters were “absurd and monstrous lies,” the lawyer said. The statements criticized in his speech were “ordinary political statements” protected by the right to freedom of expression.
Trump never admitted defeat in the November 3 US election. Months before the vote he had spoken of large-scale electoral fraud without evidence. He and his Republicans ruled their claims in dozens of courts.
For Trump, it was already the second impeachment process he had to face. In the first political trial he had to answer in the so-called Ukraine affair for abuse of power and obstruction of congressional investigations. In February 2020, however, he was finally cleared of all charges by the Senate.
(APA / Reuters / dpa)
