The US Senate acquitted Donald Trump for …

From Washington DC.Donald Trump’s second political trial ended this Saturday with an end more than announced. The former president was acquitted by the Senate, which did not get the two-thirds of the votes necessary to convict him. It was after a day marked by a surprise rebound from the Democratic Party, which asked to add witness statements, but then backed down. Trump celebrated with a statement thanking his lawyers and lawmakers who voted for him.

The plan for the last session was to simply listen to closing arguments and vote, but the agenda changed early, following a report released Friday night by CNN.

In it, the information network reported that On the day of the Capitol attack, there was a telephone conversation between Trump and Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader of the lower house. During the call, the lawmaker asked the former president to ask his supporters to end the attack. “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are angrier than you are about the election,” he replied.

For those who led the prosecution in this indictment, it was proof that not only Trump had the power to lead the mob that took control of the CapitolOn the contrary, he was not prepared to intervene to stop it. The main source cited by CNN was the Republican MP Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington State.

Therefore, as a first step on the last day, Democrats asked to call him to testify. The response from Trump’s defense attorneys was that, if members of Congress went ahead with the request, then they would subpoena 100 witnesses. “This is the time to listen to the pleadings and vote,” they argued. After a vote, the Senate decided that it would open the possibility of taking new statements.

However, the decision confused lawmakers themselves: did they vote to allow Herrera Beutler to testify, or did they allow the inclusion of an unlimited number of witnesses? Without a clear answer, the Senate chose to suspend the session until it could work out the next steps.

During the break, Republicans threatened to call “more than 300 witnesses” to testify. But for that to be possible, the House would have to vote to approve the inclusion of each of these people. And if that had been the case, the trial would have been much longer than expected. A somewhat futile procrastination, with Republicans slipping that in the end they would always vote for Trump, and Democrats worried about delaying implementation of the legislative agenda of Joe biden.

Shortly after noon in Washington, the Senate resumed its activities. Republicans and Democrats had come to an agreement: Instead of calling Herrera Beutler to testify, the accusing MPs decided to simply include, as evidence in the trial, a statement that lawmakers released after the CNN memo. In it, he had details of the call between Trump and McCarthy.

Overcoming the drama and confusion, the Democrats’ closing arguments began. This step was not without problems either. In their speeches, members of Congress attempted to show videos that they had not included as evidence in previous sessions of the trial, which is not allowed.

“Trump must be condemned for the safety of our democracy and our people,” the Democrat said. Jamie B. Raskin, Representative of the State of Maryland. “This is not just a speech. It was a deliberate and determined effort on the part of Donald Trump for several months, which resulted in the attack of a very well organized crowd, ”added his colleague. Madeleine Dean, from Pennsylvania.

Instead, Trump’s defense argued that the former president was “innocent of the charges” he was facing. His lawyer Michael van der Veen agreed that there was an insurgency on January 6, but insisted that no impartial person who honestly reviews the recording of Trump’s speech at the Ellipse can come to this. believe he was suggesting violence.

“In short, this indictment was a complete sham from start to finish, a spectacle that was nothing more than the disorderly pursuit of a long-standing political revenge against Trump,” van der Veen added. in conclusion.

After the final speeches, the Senate voted on whether or not the former president was guilty of the “incitement to insurgency” charge for his conduct prior to the attack on Capitol Hill. The condemnation required two-thirds of the votes. In other words, 67 votes out of the 100 in the upper house.

The bills have never been in favor of the Democratic initiative. Only 34 votes were enough for Republicans to avoid condemnation of Trump. They got it at the start of the vote, with the intervention of the senator from Florida Marco rubio. A total of 57 votes found the former president guilty and 43 declared him innocent. The verdict also means the Senate will not be able to bar Trump from running for public office in the future, including a second term as president.

Either way, Democrats called it the “most bipartisan outcome in the history” of political trials in the United States. It is not just a rarity that lawmakers choose to condemn members of their party. So far, the Republican Senator Mitt Romney he had been the only one to vote against a president of his own strength, in the previous trial against Trump. He did it again this time. Perhaps it is his great popularity in the state of Utah that gives him confidence that he will not face retaliation for his decision.

In this trial, six other Republicans joined Romney’s vote. Their profiles also have certain peculiarities. Two of them are planning to retire. Three have just started their terms and they have nearly six years left to worry about the impact of this decision on their campaigns. The remaining senator won his seat despite the loss of the party intern.

After the result, Trump celebrated with a statement. He congratulated his team of lawyers and thanked the members of both chambers who supported him.. “This was another phase of the biggest witch hunt in our country’s history”, I consider.

An unusual moment occurred after the acquittal. The leader of the Republican bloc in the Senate, Mitch mcconnell, delivered a speech at the scene in which he said Trump was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the attack.” For the senator, supporters of the tycoon who took the Capitol “had been fed crazy lies by the most powerful man on Earth, because he was angry that he lost an election. A few minutes earlier, during his vote, he had considered him innocent.