The Senate found President Donald J. Trump not guilty of obstruction of justice and abuse of power on Wednesday, voting 53-47 and 52-48 to acquit the impeached president.
Many speculated that Trump’s impeachment was inevitable before the trial started three weeks ago. Republicans in both the House and Senate have stood with the President at nearly every turn throughout his presidency. Only two Senate Republicans voted to allow documents and witnesses to be presented in the trial, a precedented measure that ultimately failed in a vote, triggering accusations of a rigged trial.
Most Republican Senators barely blinked in recent weeks as seven House Managers laid piles of evidence against President Trump. But in a stunning break from party ranks, Republican Senator Mitt Romney voted to convict Trump on Wednesday, declaring the president guilty of abuse of power.
“The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a ‘high crime and misdemeanor,’” Romney said on the Senate floor. “Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.” Romney is the first senator in U.S. history to vote to remove a sitting president from his or her own party.
A guilty verdict, prompting removal, would have required 67 votes.
Wednesday put to rest an extraordinary and historic 5-month process that has gripped and divided the nation since a whistleblower’s complaint against the President became public in mid-September last year.
On Sept. 14, 2019, the House Intelligence Committee learned that the Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was in possession of a whistleblower complaint that alleged serious misconduct by President Trump. The intelligence community’s Inspector General determined the complaint was of “urgent concern,” legally requiring the DNI to alert Congress. Media soon reported that the complaint involved a call between the U.S. President and a foreign leader.
On Sept. 23, the Washington Post reported that Trump withheld nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine “at least a week before a phone call in which Trump is said to have pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate the son of former vice president Joe Biden.” On Sept. 24, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched an official impeachment inquiry. On Sept. 25, the President released a memorandum of his call with President Zelensky of Ukraine, showing Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate the Biden family. The following day, the whistleblower’s complaint was made public. Since the whistleblower’s complaint, Democrats have alleged Trump abused his power.
The House Intelligence Committee immediately served subpoenas to potential witnesses, compelling documents and testimony before the Committee to determine what happened. The President demanded all of his aides to refuse subpoenas for testimony or documents. The unprecedented, blanket refusal to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry ultimately merited the President an article of impeachment for obstruction. Some government officials defied the President and showed up on Capitol Hill to testify. First behind closed doors and later in public, House Democrats heard from officials and diplomats whose testimonies formed the basis of the article of impeachment for abuse of power. These witnesses included:
• Gordon Sondland, U.S. Ambassador to the European Union
• Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, director of European affairs for the National Security Council
• Marie Yovanovitch, fired U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
• Bill Taylor, former acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
• Fiona Hill, former Russia expert for the National Security Council
• George Kent, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
• Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia
President Trump was impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of justice on December 15, 2019. For three weeks, House Democrats described their case Adam Moyer Managing Editor against Trump in painstaking detail to Senators and to the American public in an open trial. House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff implored Republican senators to allow a fair trial with witnesses and documents.
“I submit that this is an even more important question than how you vote on guilt or innocence because whether we have a fair trial will determine whether you have a basis to render a fair and impartial verdict,” Schiff said. “It is foundational— the structure upon which every other decision you make must rest.”
Senators ultimately voted 51- 49 against compelling witnesses or documents, paving the way for Trump’s acquittal. The President called his acquittal a “VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax,” and announced he will make a public speech on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 12 p.m.
