Former President Trump was acquitted in a second unprecedented impeachment trial on charges of inciting an uprising for the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, making him the first and only president to be impeached and acquitted twice in history.
Most senators found Trump guilty on Saturday in a 57-43 vote, but the number fell short of the super majority needed to condemn the president. If Trump had been convicted, the Senate would have acted to prevent the 45th president from taking federal office again.
The seven Republican senators who joined all Democrats to plead Trump guilty were: Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Who chaired the trial announced that the vote fell short of the need for a two-thirds majority and therefore Trump is “by way of this acquitted of the prosecution”.
The acquittal means that from now on Trump may leave the door open for another White House offer in 2024, although senators have suggested they may still try to prevent him from taking office in a separate 14th Amendment measure.
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Trump praised the victory, thanked his supporters and promised that he would soon come up with a “vision for a bright, radiant and unlimited American future”.
The former president, who has remained silent since his impeachment, has also targeted his opponents.
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“This was another phase of the biggest witch hunt in our country’s history,” Trump said in a statement. “No president has ever experienced anything like this, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the nearly 75 million people, the largest number of them all for an incumbent president, who voted for us a few months ago.”
Trump’s second impeachment trial lasted just five days of discussions, making it the shortest in presidential history. The previous record was held by Trump in 2020, when his trial related to inviting foreign interference to the election lasted 21 days.
The trial surrounded the January 6 riot, when pro-Trump supporters invaded the Capitol, beat up police officers, shouted “Hang Mike Pence” and forced lawmakers to take shelter. The confusion temporarily interrupted Congressional certification for the victory of President Biden’s Electoral College.
House impeachment managers accused Trump of inciting insurrection by spreading a “big lie” that the election was stolen from him, summoning his supporters to Washington on January 6, telling them to “fight like hell” and refusing to cancel the attack once the crowd violently invaded the Capitol.
“He named the date. He named the time. He brought them here, and now he must pay the price,” said impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., In his closing speech to the Senate.
The Trump Legal team denounced the lawsuit as an unconstitutional “false impeachment” against a citizen, driven by the Democrats “hatred” for Trump and a desire to silence a political opponent.
Trump’s lawyers also argued that the former president’s political speech is protected by the First Amendment and his January 6 words to his supporters to “fight like hell” were not meant literally. To clarify this point during the trial, Trump’s defense showed an 11-minute video of almost every Democrat in the chamber using the words “fight” in his previous speeches and interviews.
In this image from the video, the House’s impeachment manager, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Speaks during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the US Capitol in Washington, Thursday, 11 February 2021. (Senate Television via AP)
The vote culminated in a wild Saturday in Washington, with several plot twists.
In a difficult move, the Senate on Saturday morning voted 55-45 to allow witnesses at the trial after Raskin said he wanted to hear Republican MP Jaime Herrera Beutler.
Raskin, D-Md., Quoted “breaking news” overnight about the details Beutler revealed of a heated phone call that Trump had with Republican Party leader Kevin McCarthy during the attack on the Capitol.
Beutler, who was one of 10 Republicans who voted for Trump’s impeachment in the House, released his account of the call on Friday, confirming a CNN report that Trump rejected McCarthy’s pleas to cancel the turmoil and instead , told McCarthy that the protesters were “more upset about the election” than the House leader.
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“When McCarthy finally reached the president on January 6 and asked him to cancel the riot publicly and forcefully, the president initially repeated the lie that it was the antifa that violated the Capitol,” Beutler said in his statement. “McCarthy refuted that and told the president that they were Trump supporters. That’s when, according to McCarthy, the president said, ‘Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the election than you are.'”
Trump’s legal team criticized the decision to call witnesses and threatened to depose 100 people in the case if the door is open. A visibly angry and excited Michael van der Veen said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., And Vice President Kamala Harris would also “absolutely” have to be deposed, but not by Zoom.
“These depositions must be made personally in my office in Philadelphia,” van der Veen told the senators, which elicited audible laughter from the Senate Chamber.
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Van deer Veen fired back: “I don’t laugh at any of you. And there is nothing laughable here.”
Lawyer Michael T. van der Veen speaks during Trump’s impeachment trial on Friday, February 12.
The surprise vote on witnesses shook Washington and seemed to catch the senators off guard.
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the move created “chaos” in the chamber. He speculated that the trial could last until April with witnesses.
“At this point, it’s pandemonium,” Cruz told reporters.
But just as quickly as the Senate followed the witnesses’ path, lawyers reversed their course on Saturday.
Trump’s legal team agreed to allow Beutler’s damaging statement to be included in the trial as evidence. Armed with his statement, House’s lawyers abandoned the requirement that Beutler be called as a witness.
House managers said the revelations about McCarthy’s connection to Trump show that Trump abdicated his oath by showing support for the protesters and disregarding the safety of members of Congress and Pence, who was targeted for murder by the crowd.
“He chose to maintain his own power over the safety of Americans,” said Rep. David Cicilline, DR.I. “I can’t imagine any more overwhelming evidence of your mood.”
The arguments, however, were not enough to influence the 17 Republican senators needed for the sentencing.
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Republican Party leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Strongly criticized Trump’s conduct in relation to the January 6 riot and his wife – former transport secretary Elaine Chao – even resigned from the government after the attack that killed at least five people, including a Capitol police officer.
“There is no doubt … that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for causing the day’s events,” McConnell said in a speech after the vote on Saturday.
Still, McConnell considered Trump “innocent”, saying he believes that condemning the former president is unconstitutional.
“We have no power to condemn and disqualify a former incumbent who is now an ordinary citizen,” said McConnell in a speech.