The US Senate on Wednesday acquitted President Trump on both charges of impeachment following weeks of drama involving investigations and presentations of evidence to push out the leader.
On the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, all 47 Democrats and one Republican voted to convict the president, falling short of the 67 needed to remove the president from office. On the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress, the vote also failed, with all Democrats and no Republicans finding the president guilty.
The presidential impeachment trial, the US’ third in its history, grew out of a July 25 phone call in which Mr. Trump asked Ukraine’s president to announce certain investigations just as he was holding up U.S. aid to the country. Mr. Trump has defended the call as “perfect” and has said he did nothing wrong regarding Ukraine. The aid was later released after bipartisan outcry from lawmakers.
Mr. Trump had hoped for vindication in the Senate trial after a House investigation that he had decried as politically motivated. What he got was something less: Amid strong support for his acquittal from his own party, several Republicans also said Democrats had proved that he acted improperly regarding Ukraine.
Mr. Trump was also denied a unanimous verdict from Republican senators, with Mitt Romney of Utah voting to convict Mr. Trump on abuse of power. ( Wall Street Journal)
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– HERALD
