Trump has been acquitted
On Saturday, former US President Donald Trump was acquitted from the charges of instigating and fueling the US Capitol riots on January 6 which engulfed the honour and reputation of the world's largest democracy. Yet again, he ended up with the title of "first in the history of the United States", which followed him throughout his four year tenure and even after that. Trump's impeachment trial was historic in the way as he was the first US President to face impeachment trial for the second time and first former US President to face the impeachment trial. The Senate voted on the one article of impeachment- "Incitement of Insurrection".
Donald Trump has been accused of misleading the public and spreading disharmony and discontent among citizens. The violent storming of US Capitol has been an adverse repercussion of the same. In the previous trial, the Trump administration was accused of holding $400 million in military aid, passed by the Congress and the Pentagon, to Ukraine and oppressed President Volodymyr Zelensky to initiate an investigation into his Democratic rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. On February 5, 2020 Trump was exonerated from the pressed charges and only Senator Mitt Romney was the only Republican leader who supported the stance of conviction of Trump on account of "Abuse of Power".
Reciting the history, the former President was once again acquitted by the Senate from the charges of "Insurrection of Charges". A historic opposition to the President was forwarded by his own party wherein seven Republican senators unified with Democrats, upholding the decision to convict Trump. The Senate split up evenly at 57-43 in favour of impeachment, falling 10 votes short of the two thirds majority required to convict the Republican leader. The seven Republicans along with two independent senators who voted for Trump's conviction were Susan Collins, Patrick J Toomey, Richard Burr, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse, Bill Cassidy and Mitt Romney. A sharp contrast has been witnessed with the past scenario where the party stood up for their president to acquit him from all the charges.
Other than Trump, only two US Presidents Andrew Johnson (1868) and Bill Clinton (1998) have encountered the impeachment trial. Johnson was acquitted from all the charges with seven Republicans voting against his conviction, all 45 Democrats stood behind Clinton to acquit him from the charges. Studying this context, Trump's impeachment was the most bipartisan ever in favour of the president's conviction and removal.
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