On Wednesday, February 5, the Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump on both articles of impeachment against him – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The verdict followed the third presidential trial in American history, falling nearly entirely along party lines and heavily dividing the country.
The Ukraine-centered impeachment process started after Trump requested a questionable “favor” of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, pushing for investigations against the gas company Burisma Holdings and Ukraine’s alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election. Burisma, in turn, employed Hunter Biden, son of President Trump’s political opponent and former vice president Joe Biden. According to the intelligence consensus, it was also Russia and not Ukraine that meddled in the 2016 presidential race.
The senators first voted 52-48 “not guilty” on abuse of power, which was a close to inevitable outcome after their decision to proceed with the trial without hearing from witnesses. Then, the Senate voted 53-47 against obstruction of Congress.
Interestingly, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was the only Republican to vote “guilty” on the first article of impeachment, provoking a stark reaction from President Trump. The president posted a picture calling Romney a “p***u”. “He’s now officially a member of the resistance & should be expelled from the GOP,” Trump captioned.
Romney, in turn, issued a statement explaining his decision to vote “guilty”. “The President asked a foreign government to investigate his political rival. The President withheld vital military funds from that government to press it to do so. The President delayed funds for an American ally at war with Russian invaders. The President’s purpose was personal and political. Accordingly, the President is guilty of an appalling abuse of the public trust,” he said.
Romney then added, “…with my vote, I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing that my country expected it of me.”
It is worth noting that no president has ever been removed from office via impeachment.
As the impeachment process came to end, America will decide Donald Trump’s political fate in November 2020.