Moments after the U.S. senate voted to acquit him of allegedly inciting an insurrection, Donald Trump had a message for the U.S.: “Make America Great Again has only just begun.”
The former Republican president dismissed his second impeachment trial as “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country” in a publicly released statement on Saturday.
His comments wrapped up five days of legal proceedings in which House Democrats had recklessly sought to prove that Trump had incited a violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 led by his supporters to delay the certification of U.S. President Joe Biden. The attack left two people dead.
“No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few short months ago,” Trump’s statement read.
“In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it!”
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U.S. Senate fell short of the two-thirds majority (67 votes) needed to convict Trump of inciting the riot in a 57-43 vote.
Seven Republicans sided with Democrats and voted to convict Trump, representing the largest ever number of party members to vote against their own president in the country’s history.
GOP members who voted against Trump included Sens. Richard Burr, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse and Patrick Toomey.
Republican senate leader Mitch McConnell, who voted to acquit Trump, said Trump could not be convicted as a private citizen but emphasized that he was, in fact, “practically and morally responsible” for the Capitol riot.
“The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president,” he said, adding that Trump is “still liable for everything he did while he was in office as an ordinary citizen.”
In statement sent out several hours after the impeachment verdict, Biden noted that while Trump may not have been convicted, “the substance of the charge is not in dispute.”
Trumps attorneys pulled the 'ace card' out when the Democrat impeachment house managers asked for witnesses in a last ditch effort to win their case. Within moments Trumps team procured a list of over 300 witnesses to testify on Trumps behalf. Nancy Pelosi was at the top of their list to tesitfy under oath on the senate floor. This move was following their long defense argument on the floor that included 100s of clips of Democratic law makers verbally inciting violence against Trump and his supporters over the past four years showing the hypocrisy of the entire impeachment process. Needless to say the Democratic house managers withdrew their effort to incorporate witnesses into their protection.
This was a win yet again for Donald J. Trump.
Partial Source - By Emerald Bensadoun
globalnews.ca
