Senate acquits Trump in historic vote as re-election battle looms

[webfact]

Senate acquits Trump in historic vote as re-election battle looms

By David Morgan, Susan Cornwell, Richard Cowan and Patricia Zengerle

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump was acquitted on Wednesday in his U.S. Senate impeachment trial, saved by fellow Republicans who rallied to protect him nine months before he asks voters in a deeply divided America to give him a second White House term.

 

The businessman-turned-politician, 73, survived only the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history - just like the two other impeached presidents - in his turbulent presidency's darkest chapter. Trump now plunges into an election season that promises to further polarize the country.

 

Trump was acquitted largely along party lines on two articles of impeachment approved by the Democratic-led House of Representatives on Dec. 18, with the votes falling far short of the two-thirds majority required in the 100-seat Senate to remove him under the U.S. Constitution.

 

The Senate voted 52-48 to acquit him of abuse of power stemming from his request that Ukraine investigate political rival Joe Biden, a contender for the Democratic nomination to face Trump in the Nov. 3 election. Republican Senator Mitt Romney joined the Democrats in voting to convict. No Democrat voted to acquit.

 

The Senate then voted 53-47 to acquit him of obstruction of Congress by blocking witnesses and documents sought by the House. A conviction on either count would have elevated Vice President Mike Pence, another Republican, into the presidency. Romney joined the rest of the Republican senators in voting to acquit on the obstruction charge. No Democrat voted to acquit.

 

On each of the two charges, the senators voted one by one on the Senate floor with U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts presiding.

 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans engineered a stripped-down trial with no witnesses or new evidence. Democrats called the trial a sham and a cover-up. Trump called the impeachment an attempted coup and a Democratic attempt to annul his 2016 election victory.

 

Throughout the impeachment drama, Trump and his Republican allies kept up their attacks on Biden's integrity. It remains to be seen how much political damage that inflicted. In the first of the state-by-state contests to determine the Democratic challenger to Trump, Biden placed a disappointing fourth in Iowa, according to incomplete results from Monday's voting. Biden has accused Trump of "lies, smears, distortions and name-calling."

 

'APPALLING ABUSE'

Trump faces no serious challengers for his party's presidential nomination. He is poised to claim the nomination at the party's convention in August and previewed in his State of the Union address on Tuesday campaign themes such as American renewal, economic vitality and hardline immigration policies.

 

Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, broke with his party to vote to convict Trump on the abuse-of-power charge. Romney called the president's actions in pressuring Ukraine to investigate Biden "grievously wrong" and said Trump was "guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust."

 

"What he did was not 'perfect,'" Romney said on the Senate floor, as Trump has described his call with Ukraine's president that was at the heart of the scandal. "No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep one's self in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine."

 

Romney, a moderate and elder statesman in his party, paused during his speech as he became choked with emotion after mentioning the importance of his religious faith.

 

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham lashed out at Democrats, saying: "What you have done is unleash the partisan forces of hell."

 

Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said Trump's acquittal in an unfair trial was worth nothing.

 

"No doubt, the president will boast he received total exoneration. But we know better. We know this wasn't a trial by any stretch of the definition."

 

In his speech, McConnell said: "The architects of this impeachment claimed they were defending norms and traditions. In reality, it was an assault on both."

 

BIGGEST VICTORY YET

Democrats expressed concern that an acquittal would further embolden a president who already challenges political norms. They have painted him as threat to U.S. democracy and a demagogue who has acted lawlessly and exhibited a contempt for the powers of Congress and other institutions. They also have voiced concern over Russia interfering in another American election.

 

Trump's legal team offered a vision of nearly unlimited presidential powers, a view Democrats said placed any president above the law.

 

The acquittal handed Trump his biggest victory yet over his Democratic adversaries in Congress. Democrats vowed to press ahead with investigations - they are fighting in court for access to his financial records - and voiced hope that the facts unearthed during the impeachment process about his conduct would help persuade voters to make him a one-term president.

 

Trump's job approval ratings have remained fairly consistent throughout his presidency and the impeachment process as his core conservative supporters - especially white men, rural Americans, evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics - stick with him.

 

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, showed 42% of American adults approved of his performance, while 54% disapproved. That is nearly the same as when the House launched its impeachment inquiry in September, when his approval stood at 43% and disapproval at 53%.

 

The trial formally began on Jan. 16. The Senate voted 51-49 last Friday to defeat the Democrats' bid to call witnesses such as Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton, with only two Republicans joining them.

 

In the previous presidential impeachment trials, Andrew Johnson was acquitted in 1868 in the aftermath of the American Civil War and Bill Clinton was acquitted in 1999 of charges stemming from a sex scandal.

 

In the hours before the vote, numerous senators gave speeches on the Senate floor explaining their vote.

 

SHADOW OF INVESTIGATION

Trump, now seeking a second four-year term, has been under the shadow of some sort of investigation for most of his presidency. The acquittal marked the second time in 10 months that he withstood an existential threat to his presidency.

 

In March 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller found insufficient evidence that Trump engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia in its interference on his behalf in the 2016 election. Mueller did not exonerate Trump of obstruction of justice in seeking to impede the investigation but stopped short of concluding the president acted unlawfully. Trump declared full vindication.

 

Last July 25, Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a phone call to "do us a favor" and open an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter Biden and into a discredited theory beneficial to Russia that Ukraine colluded with Democrats to meddle in the 2016 election to harm Trump.

 

Hunter Biden had joined the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma while his father was U.S. vice president. Trump accused the Bidens of corruption without offering substantiation. The Bidens denied wrongdoing.

 

Democrats said Trump further abused his power by withholding $391 million in security aid approved by Congress to help Ukraine battle Russia-backed separatists and by dangling a coveted White House meeting as leverage to pressure Zelenskiy to announce the investigations.

 

Under the Constitution, impeachment is the mechanism for removing a president or certain other federal officials for "treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

 

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell, Richard Cowan, Lisa Lambert, David Morgan, Patricia Zengerle and Makini Brice; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Paul Simao and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-06

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

 

[Salerno]

Kudos Romney.

[Crazy Alex]

It was a partisan impeachment and partisan trial. Democrats simply didn't make the case, despite rigging the impeachment as much as possible. So yes, of course it ended with an acquittal.

[ukrules]

I have a feeling that Trump won't hold back in his second term. Prepare for a storm is coming.

[Puchaiyank]

1 minute ago, ukrules said:

I have a feeling that Trump won't hold back in his second term. Prepare for a storm is coming.

News Flash!  Trump did not hold back in his first term...the Democrats have either blocked or taken Trump administration to court on almost every issue.  They should be so proud!

[melvinmelvin]

 

guess this will significantly improve Trump's chances for a win in the upcoming e....

[AussieBob18]

Trump's second term is going to be unbelievable. If those poor Dems thought it was bad this term, they aint seen anything yet.

Trump has united the GOP, except for Romney who will soon depart, and Trump has the highest ratings ever among Conservative voters for a GOP POTUS - even more than Reagan  The GOP was not united behind Trump when he started, and because of that the Dems won the House in mid-terms. After Trump is re-elected by a landslide in November, the GOP will control both House and Senate, and they will embark on a program of policies and changes that will transform America and not only undo all the Obama damage, but lock those changes in for decades to come. 

Plus - Dems and all the Public Servants behind the fake FBI investigations, the Russia Hoax, and the partisan Impeachment, will all be Impeached and found guilty and sacked/charged. Never again will a POTUS have to go through what Trump has endured. 

Forever a Fake Impeachment and Forever Not Guilty.

 

[AussieBob18]

The White House has just issued a statement following Donald Trump's acquittal.

Here it is in full:

 

Today, the sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the full vindication and exoneration of President Donald J. Trump. As we have said all along, he is not guilty. The Senate voted to reject the baseless articles of impeachment, and only the President’s political opponents – all Democrats, and one failed Republican presidential candidate – voted for the manufactured impeachment articles.

 

In what has now become a consistent tradition for Democrats, this was yet another witch-hunt that deprived the President of his due process rights and was based on a series of lies.

 

Read more here:  https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-109/

[GalaxyMan]

25 minutes ago, ukrules said:

I have a feeling that Trump won't hold back in his second term. Prepare for a storm is coming.

An expected travesty and total abdication of honor and integrity, Romney excepted. *****BIG SIGH*****

 

What does interest me a little bit is the guessing game going on as to whether Trump has ‘learned his lesson’ or not.

 

My personal prediction is that this will set him loose. We’re going to see Trump on steroids, totally emboldened, more full of himself than ever, convinced that he is for all intents and purposes a king who doesn’t have to answer to anyone. At least until November.

[Somtamnication]

Romney is my hero. The Mormons are far more religious and by the book evangelicals than Trumpie's base of evangelical Baptists, et al.

[Lacessit]

Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

"What he did was not 'perfect,'" Romney said on the Senate floor, as Trump has described his call with Ukraine's president that was at the heart of the scandal. "No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep one's self in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine."

 

Refreshing to see one Republican has the balls to stand up and vote with his conscience while the rest colluded in Trumps corruption! 

[ukrules]

Trump will win by a landslide in November - just watch it happen!

[ThaiBunny]

2 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Trump will win by a landslide in November - just watch it happen!

Can't wait - a dysfunctional USA has always been a huge source of entertainment for me

[Orton Rd]

4 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Trump will win by a landslide in November - just watch it happen!

Hopefully as no democrat could look after the interests of the USA like he has, not a very nice person perhaps, but a great President

[Cryingdick]

I knew Romney would suddenly be considered a hero and some great guy to look up to. Same with Bolton considered to be stark raving mad and evil until suddenly they are tossed in the same boat as the dems. Utterly hilarious. 

 

Anyway it's over now and Trump is surging and more popular than he has ever been. Was all this really worth it?

[ThaiBunny]

3 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Was all this really worth it?

For sheer entertainment? Absolutely

[Cryingdick]

1 minute ago, ThaiBunny said:

For sheer entertainment? Absolutely

 

I suppose. The dems deserve one more 60+ page thread. After that not sure what they do to stay relevant. Their campaign stories barely make a multi-page thread. I guess we should pop the cork and celebrate, justice has prevailed and the dems got what they wanted. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sujo]

9 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

I knew Romney would suddenly be considered a hero and some great guy to look up to. Same with Bolton considered to be stark raving mad and evil until suddenly they are tossed in the same boat as the dems. Utterly hilarious. 

 

Anyway it's over now and Trump is surging and more popular than he has ever been. Was all this really worth it?

Well you have to ask trump. All he had to do was allow the witnesses to the perfect call to give evidence and none of this would have happened.

[Sujo]

2 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

I suppose. The dems deserve one more 60+ page thread. After that not sure what they do to stay relevant. Their campaign stories barely make a multi-page thread. I guess we should pop the cork and celebrate, justice has prevailed and the dems got what they wanted. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No justice if no trial.

Dont think dems need to do anything, trump will keep on doing it to himself.

[Cryingdick]

1 minute ago, Sujo said:

Well you have to ask trump. All he had to do was allow the witnesses to the perfect call to give evidence and none of this would have happened.

 

It isn't Trump that suffered out of this. It worked out perfectly for him. The case was basically thrown out.

[AussieBob18]

25 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Refreshing to see one Republican has the balls to stand up and vote with his conscience while the rest colluded in Trumps corruption! 

"What he did was not 'perfect,'" Romney said on the Senate floor, as Trump has described his call with Ukraine's president that was at the heart of the scandal. "No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep one's self in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine."

 

Romey's son also was a Board member on several Ukraine energy companies that also inlcuded a Biden, a Pelosi, and a Kerry. The last thing he wanted was his son to be caught up in the upcoming investigations.  Romney is just another Swamp member and now everyone knows that.

 

To use the Bard:  The impeachment charade was but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts about and frets his hour upon the stage, and eventually fades away and then is heard from no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, but signifying nothing of substance or value.  

[simple1]

1 hour ago, Crazy Alex said:

It was a partisan impeachment and partisan trial. Democrats simply didn't make the case, despite rigging the impeachment as much as possible. So yes, of course it ended with an acquittal.

Usual nonsense. The facts are "rigging' was implemented by the Republication, in contempt of their oath, thereby making a complete farce of the 'trial'.

[Crazy Alex]

52 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Refreshing to see one Republican has the balls to stand up and vote with his conscience while the rest colluded in Trumps corruption! 

I think most if not all voted their conscience. It doesn't make sense to essentially say only the people who agree with me voted their conscience.

 

My two cents.

 

[Cryingdick]

22 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Usual nonsense. The facts are "rigging' was implemented by the Republication, in contempt of their oath, thereby making a complete farce of the 'trial'.

 

It was more like a dismissal than a trial. 

[ExpatOK]

Congratulations President Trump!  

 

You have been EXONERATED!!!

 

Now, please continue making America Great. The public will no longer listen to Pelosi, the squad and the other haters.  In tearing up the speech, Pelosi sealed the fate of the Democrat party.  Trump doesn't need to destroy the Dems; they are destroying themselves!

 

 

[Skallywag]

My prediction, Trump will be the first president indicted for tax fraud while in office, July 2020.  

Melania will be thrilled, Pence will pray to Jesus, and Justice will be served.  555

 

[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Senate acquits Trump in historic vote

I think a better headline would be Senate Acquits Trump in historic public waste of time and money.

 

 

[Emdog]

Wow. I bet no one saw this coming....

Maybe the Thai cave divers can go to Congress and rescue Republican party. They've caved to little hands Caesar

[jesimps]

3 hours ago, Salerno said:

Kudos Romney.

Judas Romney!