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It has been over a month since the deadly Capitol riots last January 6 and a week since the impeachment trials against former President Donald Trump by the Senate occurred. In another repeat result from his first impeachment, Trump was acquitted by the Senate for the second time.
Trump was acquitted by the Senate over the weekend. Despite a majority of Senators voting to convict, with seven Republican lawmakers joining the Democrats in the vote, the votes to convict failed to reach the threshold of votes needed. Trump was impeached by the House in his final days as president for incitement of insurrection on a bipartisan vote and was acquitted by the Senate despite conviction also being a bipartisan vote.
Senators from both parties clashed over the need to call for witnesses. Following a one-hour recess, the Senate jurors opted instead to admit into evidence a written testimony by Washington state GOP Congresswoman Jaime Herrera-Beutler.
57 Senators voted to convict Trump by the end of the trials, while 43 voted to acquit the former president. 67 votes are needed to convict Trump and permanently bar him from running for office. Utah Senator Mitt Romney, who voted to convict Trump in his first trial, was among the seven GOP senators who still voted with the Democrats.
Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska all joined in voting to convict. All of whom are facing backlash from their respective states for voting against Trump but nevertheless defended their votes to convict.
The Senate may have acquitted Trump, the former president still faces pending investigations on a state level, some of which may still revolve around his involvement during the riots. As Trump is now a private citizen, he no longer has protection from legal liability that he had when he was president. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, despite voting to acquit, said that Trump still bears responsibility for his actions in and out of office, suggesting that the courts would be the better area to hold Trump accountable for his actions.
