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The Senate voted Wednesday to acquit President Donald Trump on two impeachment charges, in only the third trial of its kind in American history.
Voting 48-52 on abuse of power and 47-53 on obstruction of Congress, the Republican-led chamber brought an end to a political process that centered on the Trump administration’s decision to withhold military aid to Ukraine and whether that move equated to White House pressure for Ukrainian leaders to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a political rival in the upcoming 2020 election.
Trump, in an address to the nation Thursday at the White House, denounced his political foes while celebrating his acquittal. He made similar comments a few hours earlier at the annual prayer breakfast in Washington.
“It was evil, it was corrupt,” Trump declared Thursday during the national address. “This should never ever happen to another president, ever.”
Trump, on Twitter, rebuked the one Republican who voted to remove him:
Had failed presidential candidate @MittRomney devoted the same energy and anger to defeating a faltering Barack Obama as he sanctimoniously does to me, he could have won the election. Read the Transcripts!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2020
Democratic leadership from the House of Representatives served as impeachment managers and presented the case to remove Trump by framing the aid withholding as Trump misusing the power of the presidency for his own political gain. The impeachment managers further argued that Trump obstructed Congress when he instructed White House aides to defy House subpoenas as that legislative body investigated the administration’s military aid distribution to Ukraine.
Republican lawmakers in the Senate, who refused to break rank on the vote to acquit Trump with the exception of Utah Senator Mitt Romney, acknowledged that House Democratic managers essentially proved their case, AP reported.
Trump’s impeachment ended much the same way as the previous two in U.S. history: Both Bill Clinton in 1999 and Andrew Johnson in 1868 were left in office after their respective trials.
