Former President of the United States, Donald Trump, has been acquitted in the second impeachment trial.
The shocking news came right after a roll call vote by the US Senate comprised of 57 senators who voted to convict while only 43 voted in favor of acquitting. Therefore, that just simply wasn’t enough to meet the major two-thirds threshold outlined in the country’s Constitution.
On the other hand, only 7 Republicans voted in favor of convicting the former US leader with two of the seven claiming their retirement after the end of their terms.
This particular group included names such as Senator Richard Burr and Senator Bill Cassidy.
While the vote was undoubtedly a bipartisan one, it was well short of the 67 needed to convict Donald Trump for inciting the MAGA riots that rocked the nation’s Capitol on January 6th.
Senator Charles Schumer who is also a majority leader called the incident the ‘most Bipartisan impeachment’ in the history of the United States of America. In a gesture to display great solemnity towards the occasion, every senator announced their votes in a standing position from their desks.
McConnell, who also declined to call the Senate back into session after the House announced the impeachment in January, announced how President Trump is not clear, just yet.point 268 |
And that’s because he felt the former president was still liable for all the things he did while present in the office.point 104 | In particular, he boldly claimed how US Presidents aren’t immune from accountability by the country’s criminal justice system as well as civil litigation.point 248 | 1
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave her two cents on the verdict too. She opted to walk towards the Senate and join them, commenting over McConnell’s decision. She fumed, “I do not know whether it was for donors or whatever but it was a very disingenuous speech.”
As a whole, this was an outcome that many people expected but it certainly let down many Democrats who made Donald Trump the first US president in history to be ‘impeached twice as well as acquitted twice.’