Joe Biden stressed that “democracy is fragile” after hearing Donald Trump’s acquittal

The American President, Joe Biden said on Saturday that despite Donald Trump’s acquittal in his impeachment for inciting insurgency, the charges against the former president are not in doubt and the attack on Capitol Hill shows that “democracy is fragile “.

“Although the final vote did not result in a conviction, the essence of the charges is clear,” Biden said that after the Senate voted 57-43 against Trump in his second impeachment, but failed to achieve a two-thirds majority, he should be condemned.

“This sad chapter in our history reminded us that democracy is fragile. It must always be defended. That we must always be vigilant ”, Biden said in a statement after the Trump trial, in which the former president was accused of inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan.6.

Trump was acquitted on Saturday of “incitement to insurgency” charges in the unrest on Capitol Hill in the Senate impeachment trial.

After the results of the Senate vote were released, Trump’s team released a statement in which the former president denounced a “witch hunt” and He promised to “continue” to defend “the greatness of America”. “Our magnificent, historic and patriotic movement, Make America Great Again (Making America Great Again) is just beginning, ”said the former president.

“In the coming months, I will have a lot to share with you and I look forward to continuing our incredible adventure for the greatness of America ”he added.

Among the senators who voted against him, There are 50 Democrats and seven Republicans, the most defections to the party in history for a president. The Seven Republicans are Bill Cassidy (Louisiana), Susan collins (Maine), Richard burr (Virginia), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Mitt Romney (Utah), Ben sasse (Nebraska) and Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania).

The upper house thus acquitted the former Republican president for the second time in such a trial, despite requests from the political prosecutors in the case, who claimed that Trump was responsible for encouraging the mob of supporters who attacked Congress on January 6, in an episode that left 5 dead.

The result of the impeachment had already become predictable in recent days, due to the demand of the With a two-thirds favorable vote, Democrats needed at least 17 Republicans to turn around and vote against Trump.

“Our beautiful, historic and patriotic movement, Make America Great Again, has just begun. In the months to come, I will have a lot to share with you and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people, ”said Donald Trump. in the statement released moments after the Democrat-controlled US Senate failed to win enough votes to condemn him for the attack on Capitol Hill.

The Republican added that he still had “a lot of work ahead of him”. “We will soon emerge with a vision of a bright, radiant and limitless American future. Together, there is nothing we cannot achieve, ”he said.

For the former president, “It was another phase of the biggest witch hunt in US history. No president has experienced anything like this, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the nearly 75 million people, the largest number in the history of a sitting president, who voted for us just a few months ago. “

“It is sad that a political party in the United States has a free hand to denigrate the rule of law, defame law enforcement, enliven crowds, excuse rioters, and turn justice into a tool of political revenge ., and persecute, blacklist, cancel and delete all the people and all the views they disagree with, ”Trump accused.

“I would like to express my gratitude to the millions of decent, hard-working, law-abiding citizens, lovers of God and of the Fatherland, who have courageously supported these important principles in these very difficult and difficult times,” said the former president , who also thanked his legal team “for their tireless work in defending justice and defending the truth,” and “all the United States senators and congressmen who have proudly defended the Constitution we all revere and the sacred legal principles of our country “.

(With information from AFP)

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