The Senate has acquitted former President Donald Trump on the House’s charge of inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
The 57-43 vote marks the first time since 1868 that a majority of the Senate voted to convict a president on an impeachment charge. But it still fell short of the 2/3 majority needed to secure a conviction. The seven Republicans who broke ranks and joined all 50 Democrats are by far the most to support the conviction of a president from their own party. (Senators Burr, Cassidy, Collins, Murkowski, Romney, Sasse and Toomey.)
The vote marks the second time in 13 months that Trump was acquitted by the Senate on impeachment charges brought by the House. The verdict followed a brief but emotional trial at which House prosecutors displayed hours of footage of violence wrought by a pro-Trump mob.
Trump’s attorneys maintained that it was unconstitutional to try a former president for impeachment and said the House managers did not meet the standard for an incitement charge.
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