Trump Acquitted for a second time

Former President Donald Trump has been acquitted in the US Senate for the second time.

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The historic Senate impeachment trial became the most bipartisan senate trial with 7 Republicans joining all of the Senate Democrats, and 2 independent senators.

 

When the Senate reconvened last Saturday, the trials began in an unusual way. House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin of Maryland asked the Senate to subpoena Washington House Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler. The Democratic impeachment managers decided to do this after Herrera Beutler recalled a phone conversation she overheard where House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pleaded with the former president. Trump told McCarthy that Antifa and not his supporters were breaching the capital. After McCarthy corrected the president, Trump said "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,"

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The Senate went into an abrupt one-hour recess after the request, and when they came back to the floor, Herrera Beutler's tweet claiming this was admitted as evidence. Then, as planned the closing arguments from both sides were presented.

 

Democrats made the case that Trump had incited this kind of violence for months. They said that a president should not deny the results of an election that he or she justly lost. "My dear colleagues, is there any political leader in this room who believes that if he is ever allowed by the Senate to get back into the Oval Office, Donald Trump would stop inciting violence to get his way?" said lead house impeachment manager in his closing arguments. "Would you bet the lives of more police officers on that? Would you bet the safety of your family on that? Would you bet the future of your democracy on that?"

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On the other side of the political spectrum, Trump's lawyers argued that Trump used peaceful language in his Save America speech. They said that he specifically asked for peaceful protesting in a part of his speech. They further stated that every political leader uses inflammatory language sometimes citing specific examples from Democratic politicians like Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House.

 

After the closing arguments from both sides finished, a vote was held. As expected, Trump was acquitted. The seven Republicans that voted to convict were Susan Collins, Maine, Ben Sasse, Nebraska, Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania, Richard Burr, North Carolina, Bill Cassidy, Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski, Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah. 10 more Republicans would have been needed to convict.