Ex-US President Donald Trump acquitted in Senate impeachment trial

The U.S. Senate voted Saturday to acquit former President Donald Trump of a charge of inciting the deadly attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, bringing his second impeachment trial to a close.

Fifty-seven senators voted to find Trump guilty — short of the two-thirds majority needed in a 100-member house for a conviction — while 43 voted to find him not guilty.
Seven Republicans joined the 50 members of the Democratic caucus in voting for conviction.

In their final arguments, senate Democrats on Saturday accused Trump of having “willfully betrayed us” as the historic second Senate impeachment trial of the former president neared its end on a day punctuated by surprises.

Trump’s lawyers countered that Democrats were motivated by an “impeachment lust” and argued that Trump does not bear responsibility for the violent attack on the Capitol by his supporters.

Trump was impeached by the House last month for incitement of an insurrection. House impeachment managers held that he incited the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, when his supporters who had gathered to protest the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 win breached the Capitol during the congressional vote.

In total, five people died, including one Capitol police officer. In the following days, two other responding officers died by suicide. Many others were hurt.

In February 2020, during Trump’s first impeachment trial, Senators voted 52-48 in favour of acquitting him of abuse of power and 53-47 in favor of acquitting him of obstruction of Congress. Romney was the only Republican to vote in favor of conviction at that time.