By Staff Reporter
Washington, DC—The United States Senate today voted to acquit former President Donald J. Trump in allegations related to January 6 riot on the Capitol Hill.
Today’s vote is 57 vs. 43. Though majority of senators voted to convict Trump, but fell short of the two-thirds majority required by the Constitution.
It is worth noting that 7 Republican senators joined all 50 Democratic senators casted the conviction votes. They are Richard Burr from North Carolina, Mitt Romney from Utah, Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, Susan Collins from Maine, Ben Sasse from Nebraska, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania.
After the vote, Trump said 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.”
The Senate has conducted such an impeachment trial four times in history, respectively involving Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Donald Trump. None is successful. Nixon resigned from office before the official impeachment process.
The vote today is not unexpected. Why does the Congress squeeze time out of its tight schedule to do it now when the new stimulus package is yet to be determined? “One political party intends to force members of the other Party to take sides with an aim to further divide the other Party,” said a local political analyst. “To be honest, they have achieved their goal in one way or another. The situation for the other party in 2022 mid-term election is not that optimistic.”
According to the Constitution, the House of Representatives can initiate an impeachment with a simple majority. But it requires two-thirds majority of senators, namely 67 votes, to actually convict a president.
For the current Congress, the House is under Democrat control, while the Senate is evenly split between two parties.
