The Senate on Saturday voted to acquit former President Donald Trump on charges of inciting insurgency despite significant Republican support for conviction, which ended the fourth indictment in U.S. history and the second for Trump.
Seven Republicans voted to condemn Trump for allegedly inciting the deadly uprising at the Capitol on January 6, when a crowd of Trump supporters tried to disrupt the election count formalizing Joe Biden’s election victory before a joint congress. This is by far the most dual support for conviction in the history of the indictment. The final vote was 57 to 43, 10 less than the 67 votes needed to obtain a conviction.
Republican senator Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania all voted guilty.
The vote means the Senate cannot prevent Trump from holding future federal offices.
Moments after the vote ended, the former president issued a statement praising his legal team and thanking the senators and other members of Congress “who were proud of the Constitution that respects us all and of the sacred principles of law.” in the heart of our country. “
“This was another phase of the biggest witch hunt in the history of our country. No president has ever experienced anything like this,” Trump said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., called the vote ‘the largest and most ambitious vote in any indictment in history’, but noted that it was not enough to get a conviction.
The trial “was to choose a country over Donald Trump, and 43 Republican members voted for Trump. They chose Trump. It should be a weight on their conscience today, and it will be a weight on their conscience in the future,” he said in a speech on the Senate floor.
With the control of the Senate divided 50-50, the House leaders have always fought an uphill battle when it comes to convincing enough Republicans to cross party lines and condemn a former president who is still very popular at ‘ a large part of the IDP base.
In his closing remarks, House Manager Joe Neguse, D-Colo., Argued: “The interests cannot be higher. Because the cold, hard truth is that what happened on January 6 can happen again. I fear, like many of you do, that the violence we saw on that terrible day can only be the beginning. ‘
General Manager Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Encouraged the senators to think about the future.
“Senators, this trial is ultimately not about Donald Trump. The country and the world know who Donald Trump is. This trial is about who we are, who we are,” Raskin said.
Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen, meanwhile, insisted his client had done nothing wrong and maintained he was the victim of vindictive Democrats and a biased news media outlet. He called the indictment a “charade from start to finish”.
While he often looked angry during his presentation, Van der Veen was delighted with the acquittal. Reporters saw him then punch a fellow member of Trump’s legal team and shout, ‘We’re going to Disney World!’
The administration’s task became more difficult on Saturday when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced in an email to his colleagues that he would vote to resign, as Trump was already out of office.
“While I was on a close call, I’m convinced that accusations are primarily a means of removal and that we therefore have no jurisdiction,” the influential Kentucky Republican wrote in an email obtained by NBC News.
McConnell, who rejected Democratic attempts to start the trial while Trump was still in office, condemned Trump’s behavior after the riot and said he would keep an open mind to vote for conviction – something he completely excluded during Trump’s first indictment trial last year.
After McConnell voted for acquittal, he blasted Trump for his ‘shameful dereliction of duty’ and laid the blame for the riot squarely in front of Trump’s door, amounting to an endorsement of many of the arguments put forward by the House of Commons in a speech on the Senate was argued. floor.
“There is no doubt that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said.
McConnell suggested in the email earlier in the day that Trump could still face other punishments.
“The Constitution makes it clear that criminal presidential misconduct during his term of office can be prosecuted after the president has left office, which in my view alleviates the otherwise worrying argument of ‘January exception’ raised by the House,” he wrote. .
Two of the Republicans who voted for conviction, Burr and Toomey, did not vote again. Romney, the lone Republican who crosses party lines and votes to condemn Trump in his first indictment, can only be re-elected in 2024, while Sasse, Cassidy and Collins were elected to six years in November. Murkowski, whom Trump has already promised to fight against, could be re-elected in 2022.
Toomey, whose state of Pennsylvania was at the center of several of Trump’s false conspiracy claims, said: “As a result of President Trump’s actions, the transfer of presidential power for the first time in American history has not been peaceful.”
“Unfortunately, his behavior after the election betrayed the trust that millions of us placed in him. His betrayal of the Constitution and his oath of office required conviction,” Toomey said.
Cassidy gave a simple explanation for his voice in a ten-second video statement he posted on Twitter.
“Our Constitution and our country are more important than any person. I voted to condemn President Trump because he is guilty,” he said.
Initial arguments in the trial began Wednesday, with House leaders blaming the riot over Trump’s months-long campaign to cast doubt on the 2020 election, and his repeated claims that the only way he would lose would be if the election would be ‘stolen’. They focus on his fiery speech on the morning of the January 6 riots, in which he urged his supporters to ‘fight like hell’ – and his refusal to take action after doing so.
Trump rejected a request from executives to testify during the trial and refused to even file a statement, facts that encouraged Raskin senators to keep in mind Saturday.
‘I ask one of you, if you are accused of inciting violent rebellion against our country, and you are falsely accused, would you come and testify? I know, ‘said Raskin.
The trial was the fourth of an accused president. No president has ever been convicted.