Trump acquitted of charges in impeachment trial

President Donald Trump was acquitted on Wednesday, Feb. 5, following the vote of the Senate.  The voting resulted in 52 to 48 to acquit him for abuse of power charges and 53 to 47 to clear him from obstruction (Washington Post) .

If the President would have been found guilty of either of the two allegations, Vice President Mike Pence would have taken over as President of the United States  (BBC). However, Trump was found not guilty on both charges and remained President of the United States.

There was only one Rebublican member who voted guilty for Trump abusing power, Senator Mitt Romney (New York Times).

Romney added this on his vote to convict the President of abuse of power: “The grave question the Constitution asks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a high crime and misdemeanor. Yes, he did. The president asked a forgeingn government to investigate his political rival” (Washington Post). 

In recent days following the ending of the trial, some Republican senators did not agree with the president’s behavior on Twitter calling out Romney, but it did not mean they were going to vote against him (BBC).

All Senate Democrats voted guilty on both abuse of power and clear him of obstruction (Associated Press). The two parties obviously reacted differently leading up to the tried impeachment.

President Trump is the only one out of three presidents of the United States to ever be on trial (Associated Press).

Senator Mitch Mcconell used the term “circus” to describe the impeachment process (Associated Press). 

Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said that President Trump is still “an ongoing threat to American democracy” (BBC).  

Rebublican Senator Lamar Alexander warned fellow senators that if President Trump did get impeached, it would “rip the country apart” (BBC).