The final drama of Donald Trump’s turbulent presidency has ended just as it started, in a bitter partisan brawl between the warring tribes of Washington.
The Senate’s split decision to acquit the former US president in his impeachment trial revealed the ongoing, yet weakening, grip Trump holds over his Republican Party.
A majority of 57 senators, including seven Republicans, found Trump guilty of incitement of insurrection — the most ever in an impeachment trial — but this still fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict him.
The fact that 43 Republican senators voted not guilty to inciting the deadly storming of the Capitol on January 6 showed that Trump remains a kingmaker in conservative politics despite his steep fall from grace during his final months in office.
Trump hailed his acquittal as a victory for the “truth” and portrayed himself as a victim of an unprecedented political witch hunt.
“This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country. No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few short months ago,” he said.
Trump also hinted at a possible political comeback in 2024, a move that would have been impossible had he been convicted.
“Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun. In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people,” he said.
The five-day impeachment trial was easily the shortest in history, leaving Trump as the first president to be impeached and acquitted twice. But there are also signs that his once vice-like grip on his party is weakening: the seven Republican senators who voted to convict the former president comprised Richard Burr, Lisa Murkowski, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse and Patrick Toomey.
Although former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell voted to acquit Trump on the grounds that it was unconstitutional to try a former president, he later delivered a searing indictment of him.
“There’s no question — none — that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said.
“Fellow Americans beat and bloodied our own police. They stormed the Senate floor. They tried to hunt down the Speaker of the house. They built a gallows and chanted about murdering the vice-president.
“They did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on Earth — because he was angry he’d lost an election.’’
His comments came a day after former Trump cabinet member Nicki Haley, a likely presidential contender in 2024, abandoned Trump, saying she was “disgusted” by him and that he was a spent political force because of his role in the Capitol riots.
“(He has) lost any sort of political viability,’’ she said. “I don’t think he’s going to be in the picture (in 2024). I don’t think he can. He’s fallen so far.”
Democrat house of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed McConnell and his fellow Republicans for being too frightened to risk their careers by voting against their former president.
“What we saw in that Senate today was a cowardly group of Republicans who apparently have no options, because they were afraid to defend their job, respect the institution in which they serve,” Pelosi said.
“ … what is so important about any one of us? What is so important about the political survival of any one of us than the constitution we have sworn to protect and defend?”
In their final arguments, Democrat house impeachment managers said Trump incited the insurrection by urging his supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” on the basis of the “big lie” that the election was stolen from him.
“He named the date. He named the time. He brought them here, and now he must pay the price,” lead impeachment manager Jamie Raskin said
Trump’s lawyers countered that the trial was an unconstitutional “sham impeachment” against a private citizen who was pursued by Democrats driven by a “impeachment lust” and a ‘‘hatred’’ for Trump.
Trump’s legal team had argued that the trial was unconstitutional and that the evidence fell far short of offering legal proof of any direct link between Trump’s speech and the subsequent attack on the Capitol.
“It is time to bring this unconstitutional political theatre to an end,” Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen said.
“In short, this impeachment has been a complete charade from beginning to end the entire spectacle, a spectacle has been nothing but the unhinged pursuit of a long-standing political vendetta against Mr Trump by the opposition party.’’
The final day of the trial involved some unexpected twists when Democrat managers made a surprise move to push for witnesses to be called, a move that could have extended the trial for weeks.
The move was triggered by a tweet from Republican congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler stating that Republican house Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had told her that he had spoken with Trump as the Capitol was being attacked and that Trump had appeared unconcerned about what was unfolding.
But after strong pushback from Trump lawyers, Democrats dropped the demand for witnesses in return for a statement from Beutler.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden continued to distance himself from the impeachment trial, retreating to Camp David for the weekend to focus on a series of announcements this week on the coronavirus pandemic.
More Coverage
‘Starved, emaciated, pained’: Israel shocked at sight of freed hostages
Israeli president accuses Hamas of a crime against humanity as the families of Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi react in horror at the men’s frailty after they were paraded on stage by their captors.
US judge blocks DOGE from Treasury data
The order says anyone who has accessed data from the Treasury Department’s records since Donald Trump was inaugurated must ‘immediately destroy any and all copies of material downloaded.’