Senate finds Donald Trump not guilty in second impeachment trial
The Senate receives enough votes to acquit Trump of the incitement of insurrection charge.
After conducting a historic second impeachment trial against Donald Trump, the Senate received enough votes to acquit the former president of all charges — again.
On Saturday (Feb. 13), the Senate voted to convict 57 – 43. However, a two-thirds vote, or 67 votes, was needed to find Trump guilty. Despite the lengthy presentations from both sides throughout the week, only seven Republican senators voted to convict Trump while the others moved to acquit him. The senators who voted to convict were Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
The articles of impeachment against Donald Trump were filed a few weeks after his supporters invaded the U.S Capitol in a landmark insurrection. With dozens of Trump supporters and Capitol Police officers injured, the riot that occurred at the Capitol building claimed the lives of five Americans, including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.
Throughout the impeachment trial, the House Managers presented evidence that implicated Trump in a months-long plot to send his supporters to Capitol Hill for the insurrection. They spent days providing tweets and videos from the rioters in which they claimed that they were sent to the Capitol at the direction of the former president.
Trump’s defense fired back by claiming that the entire impeachment was unconstitutional. They also pointed out instances in which they believed that House Managers had altered videos from their previous testimony to make the former president look more guilty. House Managers attempted to call a witness on Saturday, yet Trump’s defense countered by threatening to call more witnesses. The Senate settled for entering one testimony from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, who attested to Trump’s state of mind during the Capitol riots.
Trump is the only president to go through two impeachment trials in U.S. history. Because the Senate failed to convict Trump, the former president has the opportunity to run for president again in 2024.