Some Republicans - mostly moderates and establishment figures - have voiced alarm at the direction Trump has taken their party. The impeachment proceedings also can be viewed in the context of a battle for the future of the Republican Party. Republicans seemed dead set against an idea floated by Democrats of invoking the Constitution’s 14th Amendment provision barring from public office anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the government. Trump’s acquittal does not end the possibility of other congressional action against him such as a censure motion. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 rather than face impeachment over the Watergate scandal. Andrew Johnson was impeached and acquitted in 1868 in the aftermath of the American Civil War and Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 and acquitted in 1999 of charges stemming from a sex scandal. Since 1998, there have been three, including Trump’s two. The words Trump used, they argued, were no different than those regularly employed by Democrats. Trump’s lawyers argued the trial was unconstitutional because he had already left office. The defense lawyers accused Democrats not only of trying to silence Trump as a political opponent they feared facing in the future but of attempting to criminalize political speech with which they disagreed and aiming to cancel the voices of the tens of millions of voters who backed him. The House managers said Trump summoned the mob to Washington, gave the crowd its marching orders and then did nothing to stop the ensuing violence. They played searing video of rioters swarming inside the Capitol and making violent threats toward politicians including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence. Shortly before the rampage, Trump urged his followers to march on the Capitol, repeated his false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud, and told them that “if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”ĭuring the trial, nine House lawmakers serving as trial managers, or prosecutors, urged senators to convict Trump to hold him accountable for a crime against American democracy and to prevent a repeat in the future. The wealthy businessman-turned-politician has considered running for president again in 2024. Trump, 74, continues to hold a grip on his party with a right-wing populist appeal and “America First” message. Seventy-one percent of American adults, including nearly half of all Republicans, believe Trump was at least partially responsible for starting the Capitol assault, but only about half of the country thought Trump should be convicted of inciting insurrection, according to an Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters. 20 after defeating Trump in the November election, called for healing and unity after his predecessor’s four turbulent years in power and a caustic election campaign. The trial provided more partisan warfare even as Democratic President Joe Biden, who took office on Jan. The drama on the Senate floor unfolded against a backdrop of gaping divisions in a pandemic-weary United States along political, racial, socioeconomic and regional lines. “The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president.” “There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” he said. After not-guilty vote, McConnell says Trump 'morally responsible' for Capitol riot
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