On Feb. 13, former President Donald Trump was acquitted in his second impeachment trial.
The Senate needed a two-thirds vote in order to convict Trump, and the votes came up short at 57-43. Seven Republicans voted to convict Trump.
“Though he was acquitted of the sole charge of incitement of insurrection, it was easily the largest number of senators to ever vote to find a president of their own party guilty of an impeachment count of high crimes and misdemeanors,” the Associated Press News reported.
This trial was a historic moment for the United States.
“Trump is the first president in U.S. history to be impeached by the House twice, and the first to be tried for impeachment after leaving office,” National Public Radio reported.
During the trial, the riots on the Capitol were directly blamed on Trump.
“The Democratic House impeachment managers argued that the former president, who addressed a rally outside the White House ahead of the insurrection, was “singularly responsible” for the violence on Jan. 6,” NPR reported. “They relied, in large measure, on video to prove their case, including never-before-seen Capitol security footage. The videos showed on the Senate floor during what was an, at times, emotional trial brought back the vivid images of the Capitol violence to the very place it happened.”
Trump’s defense argued for Trump’s First Amendment rights.
“They focused their argument on claiming the former president’s words did not incite violence, that political speech must be protected and that the Senate cannot convict a private citizen under the Constitution,” ABC News reported.
Trump addressed the acquittal in a statement.
“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,” Trump said in a statement according to ABC News.
Trump continued to say that his movement is not over.
“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. There has never been anything like it!” the statement said.