WASHINGTON (AP) – After a “heartbreaking” verdict, House prosecutors who defended former President Donald Trump’s conviction of inciting the US Capitol riot said on Sunday that they had proven their case and protested the Republican leader Senate and most of his colleagues “for trying to do both” by absolving the former president.
The day after Trump won his second Senate impeachment trial in two years, bipartisan support seemed to be growing for an independent 9/11 type commission to make sure such an attack could never happen again.
The end of the trial hardly ended the debate over Trump’s culpability for the January 6 uprising, as the political, legal and emotional consequences unfolded.
Further investigations into the riot have already been planned, with Senate hearings scheduled later this month on the Senate Rules Committee. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Also asked retired Army Lieutenant General Russel Honoré to lead an immediate review of the Capitol security process.
Lawmakers on both sides signaled on Sunday that further investigations are likely.
“There must be a thorough investigation into what happened,” said Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of seven Republicans who voted to condemn Trump. “What was known, who knew and when they knew, all of this, because it builds the foundation so that it never happens again.”
Cassidy said he was “trying to hold President Trump accountable” and added that, as Americans hear all the facts, “more people will move to where I was.” He was censored by his state party after the vote, which went from 57 to 43 for sentencing, but 10 votes less than the required two-thirds.
A close ally of Trump, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said he hopes to campaign with Trump in the 2022 elections, when Republicans hope to regain a majority in Congress. But Graham acknowledged that Trump had some blame for the Capitol siege that killed five people, including a policeman, and interrupted lawmakers’ certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the White House.
“His behavior after the election was overblown,” said Graham. “We need a 9/11 commission to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again.”
The Senate acquitted Trump of an “incitement to insurrection” charge after House prosecutors exposed the case that he was a “chief instigator” who sparked a crowd for stoking a months-long campaign to publicize debunked conspiracy theories and false violent rhetoric that 2020 the election was stolen from him.
Trump’s lawyers responded that Trump’s words were not intended to incite violence and that impeachment was nothing more than a “witch hunt” designed to prevent him from serving in office again.
The conviction count was the most bipartisan in American history, but it let Trump declare victory and signal a political revival while a bitterly divided Republican Party argued about its direction and its place in the party.
The Republicans who joined Cassidy in the vote to condemn were Sens. Richard Burr, from North Carolina; Susan Collins, from Maine; Lisa Murkowski, from Alaska; Mitt Romney, from Utah; Ben Sasse, from Nebraska; and Pat Toomey, from Pennsylvania.
On Sunday, several House impeachment managers harshly criticized McConnell, who told Republican senators, just before the vote, that he would absolve Trump. In a forceful speech after the vote, McConnell said the president was “practically and morally responsible for causing the events of that day”, but that the Senate’s hands were tied to do anything because Trump was out of office. But the Senate, in a previous vote, considered the constitutional judgment.
“It was powerful to hear the 57 culprits, and then it was intriguing to hear and see Mitch McConnell plead not guilty and, minutes later, get up again and say he was guilty of everything,” said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa. “History will remember that statement of speaking from both sides of the mouth,” she said.
Dean supported the idea of an impartial investigation commission “not guided by politics, but filled with people who would face the courage of their conviction”.
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