WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted on Saturday to acquit former President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting the deadly Jan. 6 insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol, concluding his second impeachment trial with the same verdict as his first impeachment.
In the 57-43 vote, seven Republicans joined every Senate Democrat – including Georgia’s senators – and independent in support of convicting Trump.
Those GOP senators were 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.
“If Donald Trump’s actions were not impeachable, then nothing is. My vote today reflects that deeply-held conviction,” Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said in a statement Saturday.
“My colleagues who voted ‘not guilty’ had an opportunity and a moral obligation to choose principle over politics — and sadly, they chose politics in a trial where the human consequences could hardly be more tragic and the stakes could not be higher,” Warnock said. “The people — including those who bravely served and defended the Capitol — have been done a grave disservice. But somehow we must begin to turn the page, and continue the people’s work.”
In the evenly divided Senate chamber — which has 48 Democrats, two independents who usually vote with them, and 50 Republicans — it would have taken at least 17 Republican senators voting for conviction to reach the required two-thirds vote.
“Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty,” Cassidy said in a brief video statement.
The Republican Party of Louisiana slammed Cassidy after the vote. “We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the vote today by Sen. Cassidy to convict former President Trump. Fortunately, clearer heads prevailed and President Trump has been acquitted of the impeachment charge filed against him,” the party tweeted.
Two of the Republicans who voted to convict, Burr and Toomey, have announced plans to retire next year. Three others, Collins, Cassidy and Sasse, were re-elected to a new six-year term in November.
Toomey told reporters after the vote that he did not make up his mind until after hearing the arguments. He said Trump’s actions leading to the second impeachment will form his legacy. “He’ll be remembered throughout history as the president who resorted to non-legal steps to try to hold onto power,” Toomey said.
In a statement after the vote, Trump blasted the impeachment process as “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country,” and said that the movement he created “has only just begun.”
“We have so much work ahead of us, and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future,” Trump said in the statement.
The U.S. House voted 232-197 on Jan. 13 to impeach Trump, just a week after the riot.
Georgia Congresswoman Carolyn Bourdeaux, who is a Democrat, said the outcome was disappointing but not surprising.
“We remain deeply divided as a country about appropriate behavior for a president. I remain firm in the belief that lying about the results of an election and trying to pressure officials into overturning the results of a free and fair election is not okay,” Bourdeaux said in a statement.
“Inciting a violent mob to attack the U.S. Capitol to try to ‘stiffen the spine’ of the Vice President and Members of Congress to overturn the results of a free and fair election is not okay. Justice was not served today,” she added. “But I will never give up on our democracy. We will continue to resist the former president and his conspiracy theorist supporters at the ballot box, and there will be on-going legal action at the state and federal level. I look forward to seeing where that takes us.”
Saturday’s impeachment vote in the Senate followed several hours of closing arguments, which were delayed when House impeachment managers sought to subpoena at least one witness. That call for witnesses cleared a Senate vote, but was later dropped when both sets of lawyers agreed to add to the trial record a written statement by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Washington Republican.
Herrera Beutler had tweeted about a conversation she had with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in which he told her about speaking by phone with Trump during the Capitol mayhem. She said McCarthy described Trump as siding with the rioters over lawmakers as the violence was unfolding.
Trump was charged with inciting the violent mob that lay siege to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, which disrupted the tallying of presidential Electoral College votes and resulted in five deaths, including a Capitol Police officer.
No other president had been tried on impeachment charges after leaving office, and no other president had faced impeachment twice. A conviction would have barred Trump from seeking public office again.
The arguments for and against convicting Trump were outlined over just five days this week.
Using graphic videos of the riot, previously undisclosed security footage, and clips of Trump’s speeches, the nine House lawmakers who served as prosecutors argued that the insurrection was the foreseeable result of the former president inflaming and encouraging his supporters not to accept the election results.
“President Trump must be convicted for the safety and security of our democracy and our people,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, (D-Md.), one of the managers, said.
Trump’s defense team argued that the House impeachment managers misconstrued Trump’s words, and that his calls for supporters to “fight” were no different from similar rhetorical calls from Democrats.
“In short, this impeachment has been a complete charade from beginning to end. The entire spectacle, a spectacle, has been nothing but the unhinged pursuit of a long standing political vendetta against Mr. Trump by the opposition party,” Trump attorney Michael van der Veen said.
After the vote, Republican senators who opposed conviction also blasted the impeachment process, while Democrats said they were taking necessary action against a president who they said violated his oath of office.
“The real purpose of this trial was to tar and feather not just the rioters, but anyone who supported the former President and any Senator who refuses to vote to convict,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in a statement.
Georgia Recorder Deputy Editor Jill Nolin contributed to this report. This article is published in partnership with Georgia Recorder.
