Impeachment of Donald Trump over Riot at US Capitol and Acquittal from Senate

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The final vote on acquittal in the US Senate came 10 votes short of the 67 required to convict former President Donald Trump of inciting the 6^th January riot at the US Capitol. 57 voted in the favor of impeachment and 43 for acquittal. Point to be noted that the assault, by flag-waving, armed Trump supporters, came shortly after Trump spoke to a crowd of his supporters at the Ellipse. It followed months of him spewing the so-called Big Lie. Trump said, “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore”. Democratic impeachment manager Joe Neguse said, “He assembled the mob, he summoned the mob, and he incited the mob”. There were 7 Republicans who voted to convict Donald Trump. McConnell didn’t vote for Trump’s impeachment but said, “There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day”.

American history will record this impeachment process, both in the House and Senate, as the most bipartisan exercise of its kind. The acquittal was almost always certain, but the trial was about much more than the verdict. It established a historical record of a horrible day when the US Capitol was sacked by enraged Americans. The incident left on death and more than 130 officers injured, with many seriously. Two committed suicide in the immediate aftermath of the onslaught. The impeachment manager David Cicilline admired the police and said, “They showed up here to serve, and to serve the American people, and to serve their government, to serve all of us”. Lead Impeachment Manager Jamie Raskin asked, “Is this America? Can our country and our democracy ever be the same if we don’t hold accountable the person responsible for inciting the violent attack against our country?”

It is noteworthy that the trial exposed Republican divisions over Trump’s offenses and their gravity. It also affirmed the former president’s powerful sway over the GOP. The US House Manager Ted Lieu said, “You know, I’m not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years. I’m afraid he’s going to run again and lose because he can do this again”. Lieu argued President Trump spent months spreading disinformation that culminated in an ugly spectacle. Delegate Stacey Plaskett said, “He had a pattern and practice of praising and encouraging that violence, never ever condemning it. The insurgents believed that they were doing the duty of their president. They were following his orders”. The attorney Michael Van Der Veen said, “No thinking person could seriously believe that the president’s January 6th speech on the Ellipse was in any way an incitement to violence or insurrection”.