Trump acquitted in second impeachment trial as U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Cleveland votes guilty.... By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's Black digital news leaders
Former U.S. president Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat
By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor in chiefCLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-Washington, D.C.- The U.S. Senate on Saturday voted 57-43 to acquit former president Donald Trump of a single impeachment article of incitement of insurrection following an impeachment trial that centered on whether he provoked the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that left five dead, including a Capitol police officer.
While impeachment occurs in the House of Representatives, the Senate has sole authority to convict or acquit following a trial on the impeachment.
Trump said in a statement after his acquittal that the proceedings were bogus at best.
“It is a sad commentary on our times that one political party in America is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law, defame law enforcement, cheer mobs, excuse rioters, and transform justice into a tool of political vengeance, and persecute, blacklist, cancel and suppress all people and viewpoints with whom or which they disagree," said Trump.
After taking control of the Senate via last November's election, the Democrats now control the Senate, the House of Representatives and the White House but could not muster up the two-thirds majority needed to convict the former president, which would have had no criminal implications but could have served to bar him from holding office again
They did get a simple majority, a party line vote.
The Democrats needed 17 Republicans for a conviction but got only seven pro-conviction votes from GOP senators.
Sen Rob Portman, a Cincinnati Republican, voted not guilty, saying Trump's status as a former president precludes a conviction and Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat and the other U.S. senator from Ohio, voted guilty.
Brown said leading up to the impeachment trial that the proceedings were not about vengeance but about holding the former president accountable.
He said it was important "to do the trial and find him [Trump] guilty of inciting these riots."
A conviction, however, did not materialize for the Democrats, whose hardline was that Trump lied about a fixed election and then cultivated the Capitol riot out of spite because he lost fair and square.
It was the second impeachment trial for Trump and a second acquittal for Trump, 74, a Republican and one term president ousted in last November's election by current president Joe Biden, a Democrat who was vice president under former Barack Obama, the nation's first Black president.
The five-day trial that began on Feb, 9 did not draw the expected excitement and was overshadowed by a still raging coronavirus pandemic that has left millions dead across the country and worldwide.
Congressional impeachment managers put on their case first as an array of Democratic congresspersons showed video of the deadly Capitol riot and gave commentary
Protesters, whom Trump egged on during a fiery speech before the deadly siege on the Capitol, say the presidential election, in which Biden won both the electoral college and popular vote over Trump, was tainted, and stolen from the former president.
More than 200 people have been criminally charged relative to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
A real estate mogul and former television personality who upset Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the White House in 2016, Trump did not testify as his lawyer's defense on his behalf was that the constitution does not allow an impeachment conviction against a former president who has left office and that Trump's inciteful speech leading up to the riot was constitutionally protected speech.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who voted guilty, and former majority leader Mitch McConnell, who voted not guilty, blasted Trump in speeches after his acquittal, among others.
Schumer said that regardless of Saturday's acquittal, the day will go down in American history as "a day of infamy."
McConnell took the same line as fellow Congressional Republicans who voted against impeachment, saying former presidents cannot be impeached.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that had McConell, who lost his party position as House Minority Leader to Schumer after the Democrats regained control of the Senate last year, set a timely impeachment trial last year after the House impeached Trump, she believes the outcome would have been different and that Trump would have been convicted by the Senate.
President Biden has essentially remained mum on the impeachment issue, focusing instead on taming the coronavirus.
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest, and the most read independent digital news sites in Ohio. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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