{"id":48631,"date":"2021-02-13T16:23:28","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T23:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-senators-vote-to-impeach-donald-trump-but-the-former-president-is-still-acquitted\/"},"modified":"2021-02-13T23:23:28","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T23:23:28","slug":"colorados-senators-vote-to-impeach-donald-trump-but-the-former-president-is-still-acquitted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorados-senators-vote-to-impeach-donald-trump-but-the-former-president-is-still-acquitted\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s senators vote to impeach Donald Trump, but the former president is still acquitted"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Sen.
Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington on Saturday on the fifth day of the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.<\/span>Alex Brandon\/Associated Press<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

WASHINGTON \u2013 The Senate on Saturday acquitted Donald Trump of inciting the horrific attack on the U.S. Capitol, concluding a historic impeachment trial that exposed the fragility of America\u2019s democratic traditions and left a divided nation to come to terms with the violence sparked by his defeated presidency.<\/p>\n

Barely a month since the deadly Jan. 6 riot that stunned the world, the Senate convened for a rare weekend session to deliver its verdict, voting while armed National Guard troops continued to stand their posts outside the iconic building.<\/p>\n

The quick trial, the nation\u2019s first of a former president, showed how perilously close the invaders had come to destroying the nation\u2019s deep tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power after Trump had refused to concede the election. Rallying outside the White House, he unleashed a mob of supporters to \u201cfight like hell\u201d for him at the Capitol just as Congress was certify Democrat Joe Biden\u2019s victory. As hundreds stormed the building, some in tactical gear engaging in bloody combat with police, lawmakers fled for their lives. Five people died.<\/p>\n

The verdict, on a vote of 57-43, is all but certain to influence not only the former president\u2019s political future but that of the senators sworn to deliver impartial justice as jurors. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats to convict, but it was far from the two-third threshold required.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the evidence showed, former President Trump sought to overturn a free and fair election in order to preserve his grip on power,\u201d Hickenlooper said in a written statement. \u201cIn doing so, he incited an insurrection and threatened the peaceful transfer of power \u2013 the very bedrock of our democracy. I\u2019m hopeful that we can turn the page on this dark chapter in American history and move forward as a country to tackle the pressing challenges ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hickenlooper also sent out a fundraising email just after the verdict was reached highlighting his vote.<\/p>\n

Bennet said \u201cour exercise in self-government will always be vulnerable to demagogues who do anything to hold on to power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the Senate fell short of the required two-thirds majority, our bipartisan vote reflects the powerful evidence that President Trump breached his oath of office,\u201d Bennet said. \u201cIn my view, his egregious refusal to accept the results of a lawful election and his intimidation of election officials were sufficient to warrant conviction. In the end, he stopped at nothing, inciting a mob to attack the Capitol to overturn the lawful election of President Biden, putting American lives, principles and democratic institutions at mortal risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The outcome after the uprising leaves unresolved the nation\u2019s wrenching divisions over Trump\u2019s brand of politics that led to the most violent domestic attack on one of America\u2019s three branches of government.<\/p>\n

\u201cSenators, we are in a dialogue with history, a conversation with our past, with a hope for our future,\u201d said Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., one of the House prosecutors in closing arguments. \u201cWhat we do here, what is being asked of each of us here in this moment will be remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, unrepentant, welcomed his second impeachment acquittal and said his movement \u201chas only just begun.\u201d He slammed the trial as \u201cyet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he was acquitted, it was easily the largest number of senators to ever vote to find a president of their own party guilty of an impeachment charge.<\/p>\n

Voting to find Trump guilty were: GOP Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Even after voting to acquit, the Republican leader Mitch McConnell condemned the former president as \u201cpractically and morally responsible\u201d for the insurrection. Trump could not be convicted because he was out of office, McConnell contended.<\/p>\n

The trial had been momentarily thrown into confusion when senators suddenly wanted to consider potential witnesses, an hourslong standoff Saturday that stalled the momentum toward a vote. Prolonged proceedings would be politically risky, particularly for Biden\u2019s new presidency and his emerging legislative agenda. Coming amid the searing COVID-19 crisis, the Biden White House is trying to rush pandemic relief through Congress.<\/p>\n

Biden has hardly weighed in on the proceedings and was spending the weekend with family at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland.<\/p>\n

The nearly weeklong trial has delivered a grim and graphic narrative of the riot and its consequences in ways that senators, most of whom fled for their own safety that day, acknowledge they are still coming to grips with.<\/p>\n

House prosecutors have argued that Trump was the \u201cinciter in chief\u201d stoking a monthslong campaign and orchestrated pattern of violent rhetoric and false claims they called the \u201cbig lie\u201d that unleashed the mob. Five people died, including a rioter who was shot and a police officer.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s lawyers countered that Trump\u2019s words were not intended to incite the violence and that impeachment is nothing but a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d designed to prevent him from serving in office again.<\/p>\n

The senators, announcing their votes from their desks, were not only jurors but also witnesses. Only by watching the graphic videos \u2013 rioters calling out menacingly for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the January certification tally \u2013 did senators say they began to understand just how perilously close the country came to chaos.<\/p>\n

Many senators kept their votes closely held until the final moments on Saturday, particularly the Republicans representing states where the former president remains popular. Most of them ultimately voted to acquit, doubting whether Trump was fully responsible or if impeachment is the appropriate response.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust look at what Republicans have been forced to defend,\u201d said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. \u201cLook at what Republicans have chosen to forgive.\u201d<\/p>\n

In closing arguments, lead prosecutor Michael van der Veen fell back on the procedural argument that Republican senators have embraced in their own reasoning of the case what he said is a \u201cphony impeachment show trial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Trump is innocent of the charges against him,\u201d said van der Veen. \u201cThe act of incitement never happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

The House impeached Trump on the sole charge of incitement of insurrection one week after the riot, the most bipartisan vote of a presidential impeachment.<\/p>\n

The delay Saturday came as senators wanted to hear evidence about Trump\u2019s actions during the riot.<\/p>\n

Fresh stories overnight focused on Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state, who said in a statement late Friday that Trump rebuffed a plea from House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy to call off the rioters.<\/p>\n

Fifty-five senators voted for to consider witnesses, including Collins, Murkowski, Sasse and Romney. Once they did, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina changed his vote to join them on the 55-45 vote.<\/p>\n

But facing a prolonged trial with defense poised to call many more witnesses, the situation was resolved when Herrera Beutler\u2019s statement on the call was read aloud into the record for senators to consider as evidence. As part of the deal, Democrats dropped their planned deposition and Republicans abandoned their threat to call their own witnesses.<\/p>\n

Impeachment trials are rare, senators meeting as the court of impeachment over a president only four times in the nation\u2019s history, for Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton and now twice for Trump, the only one to be twice impeached.<\/p>\n

Unlike last year\u2019s impeachment trial of Trump in the Ukraine affair, a complicated charge of corruption and obstruction over his attempts to have the foreign ally dig up dirt on then-campaign rival Biden, this one brought an emotional punch displayed in graphic videos of the siege that laid bare the unexpected vulnerability of the democratic system.<\/p>\n

At the same time, this year\u2019s trial carried similar warnings from the prosecutors pleading with senators that Trump must be held accountable because he has shown repeatedly he has no bounds. Left unchecked, he will further test the norms of civic behavior, even now that he is out of office still commanding loyal supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis trial in the final analysis is not about Donald Trump,\u201d said lead prosecutor Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. \u201cThis trial is about who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other members of Colorado\u2019s congressional delegation weighed on Saturday\u2019s result.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis result is not surprising,\u201d U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, said in a written statement. \u201cJust like during the first sham impeachment process, President Trump has once again been exonerated.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Aurora, took the opposite position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have known for a long time that Donald Trump poses a danger to our democracy and the safety of the American people. He will never learn his lesson. He will never change,\u201d Crow said in a written statement. \u201cThere will always be those who continue to ignore his abuses or who choose political expediency over truth and justice, and they will be accountable to history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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