The impeachment saga comes to an end, as the United States senate cleared Donald Trump of charges of the impeachment trial. The impeachment episode has consumed Washington since the House of Representatives commenced its investigation into Trump’s actions last year.
The Senate found trump not guilty of misusing his power as a president, in a 52-48 vote. The senate voted 53-47 to clear the president on the charge of abusing power.
On the first accusation, a republican senator Mitt Romney joined all democrats and broke rank to vote to convict the president for abusing power. But the votes were too short to remove the president and much less than two-thirds majority.
Democrats had blamed trump of misusing his power to organize a pressure camping to insist Ukraine to inspect former vice president and his political opponent Joe Biden. They also accused him of blocking Congress for refusing to take part in the impeachment investigation. Trump refused any misconduct and repeatedly referring to the impeachment as a “hoax”.
Trump repeated the affirmation right after the trial, “our country’s VICTORY on the Impeachment Hoax” on twitter, to discuss the issue from the white house on Thursday in public.
Stephanie Gresham, white house secretary tweeted “The sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the FULL vindication and exoneration of President @realDonaldTrump”.
Trump’s legal defense defended in the senate trial decorates did not have sufficient proofs to declare trump as part of the pressure campaign.
Even if house democrats’ prove allegations against him, the Republicans argued that offense was not serious enough to remove him from office or forbid hum from running again, as only nine months are left for next presidential elections.
Many republican senators maintained that the house proved its case and presented dissatisfaction with the president’s conduct.
Lisa Murkowski, a republican senator said “The president’s behavior was shameful and wrong. His personal interests do not take precedence over those of this great nation”.
A republican senator Alexander, Lamar said: “it was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation” in a statement.
As acquittal was the most probable outcome, the issue of calling witnesses came to a dramatic end last week as the senate voted to obstruct new evidence and witnesses in 51-49 vote.
Republican prosecutors faced intense political pressure from senate majority leader McConnell and the white house to not break ranks in the trial.
Murkowski privately met McConnell who was urged not to vote with democrats to invite witnesses in the trial.
While speaking to voters after Wednesday vote, McConnell said impeachment trial was an effort to gain an advantage in winning control of the Senate in November but “a colossal political mistake”. He also stated he was “surprised and disappointed” by Romney’s vote.
McConnell directly tuned down the question related to the president’s request to a foreign country to investigate political opponents.
Trump’s acquittal is not satisfactory for democrats and leaves trump administration open to further in house investigations.
The top senate democrat said, “Trump’s acquittal in an unfair trial was worth nothing”.
He said “No doubt, the president will boast he received total exoneration. But we know better. We know this wasn’t a trial by any stretch of the definition”.
Nancy Palosi, the house speaker slams trump’s acquittal on Wednesday saying “the president and Senate Republicans have normalized lawlessness and rejected the system of checks and balances of our constitution”.
Further on “The president will boast that he has been acquitted. There can be no acquittal without a trial, and there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence … The president is impeached forever”.
Jerrold Nadler, house judiciary committee chairman, who was a house manager during senate trial said “the House would likely subpoena Bolton to testify and continue its investigation into the president” on Wednesday.
Democrats have raised concerns that the acquittal would embolden the president that is already challenging the political norms. They have portrayed him as a demagogue and a threat to US democracy owing to his lawless contempt of power. They have also expressed apprehensions regarding Russia’s role in another US election.
The focus of the president’s impeachment was a phone call among US president Trump and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy wherein Trump asked for a “favor”.
According to testimony, before and after the impeachment trial, trump called for political investigation to his private agent Rudy Guiliani and government officials in exchange for the release of 400 million dollars.
Trump asked Zelenskyy to carry out official investigations against Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who was a board member of gas company y in Ukraine naming Burisma. There is no proof regarding Biden’s misconduct.
Trump further requested Zelenskyy to analyze the exposed theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia that hacked documents and emails of then-candidate Hillary Clinton and democratic national committee in 2016.
Robert Muller’s investigation in special counsel accused Russian intelligence agents of 2016 cyber attacks, and the US intelligence agency publically concluded that Russia was responsible for the attacks.
Trump is the third president to face the impeachment trials in the history of the USA. In impeachment proceeding, no president has ever been removed from office. The acquittal is said to be Trump’s biggest victory over his opponents.
Throughout his presidency, Trump’s ratings have been consistently positive, and his major conservative supporters stick with him.
The latest polls conducted on Monday and Tuesday declared 42 percent of American adults are in favor of Trump’s actions, whereas 54 percent were against his performance. That is almost the same as when the house commenced its impeachment investigation inquiry in September, while 43 percent approved the president and 53 disapproved.–Worldwide News