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In the final vote Saturday afternoon, a majority of 57 of the 100 senators voted in favor of impeachment against Trump, but ten votes were missing for the required two-thirds majority.
In a statement, the former president thanked his lawyers for “defending justice and defending the truth.” 43 of the 50 Republicans filled the bar for the former president, including the influential leader of the parliamentary group Mitch McConnell. They had formally argued in the process and justified their vote stating that the action was against Triumph it is unconstitutional because he is no longer in office.
Senior Senator Patrick Leahy, who chaired the meeting, said Trump was “acquitted.” The attempt to ban Trump from running again in the 2024 presidential election failed. This would have required a conviction in the prosecution process. Democrats had launched impeachment proceedings over Trump’s role in the assault on the Capitol on January 6.
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 criticized Trump for his role in the events of January 6, conviction seemed unlikely from the start. To do this, 17 Republicans would have had to join the 50 Democrats.
Live broadcast from the United States Senate:
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.”
“Absurd” accusations
However, Trump’s defense attorney, 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 Mr. otherwise it is” absurd. ” .
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.
United States Senat in Washington Image: Reuters
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.”
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. They also warned that Trump could go back to inciting his supporters to violence.
Chief Prosecutor Jamie Raskin Image: Reuters
Trump lawyer: accusations of “absurd and monstrous lies”
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. Trump’s defense attorney, van der Veen, refused to admit the former president’s electoral defeat on Friday. The question was “irrelevant” to the process, he said.
For Trump it was already the second impeachment process that Trump 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.
