Senate falls short of majority to convict Trump

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The US Senate has fallen short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict former President Donald Trump on a charge of incitement to insurrection over the Capitol riot on 6 January, BBC reports.

A majority of senators – 57 to 43, including seven Republicans – voted to convict Mr Trump, 10 votes short of the 67 required for conviction.

After his acquittal, Mr Trump released a statement denouncing the trial as “the greatest witch hunt in history“.

This was Mr Trump’s second impeachment.

If he had been convicted, the Senate could have voted to bar him from running for office ever again.

After the vote, the senior Republican in Congress, Senator Mitch McConnell said Mr Trump had been “responsible” for the assault on the Capitol and called it a “disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty”.

Earlier, he voted against conviction, saying it was unconstitutional now that Mr Trump was no longer president. Mr McConnell was instrumental in delaying Mr Trump’s trial until after he left office, on 20 January.

However, Mr McConnell warned Mr Trump could still be held liable in court.

“He didn’t get away with anything yet. Yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country, we have civil litigation and former presidents are not immune from being [held] accountable by either one,” he said.

President Joe Biden said: “While the final vote did not lead to a conviction, the substance of the charge is not in dispute.

“This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant. That violence and extremism has no place in America. And that each of us has a duty and responsibility as Americans, and especially as leaders, to defend the truth and to defeat the lies.”

The seven Republicans who voted to convict were Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Ben Sasse, Bill Cassidy, Richard Burr, Mitt Romney and Pat Toomey.

Explaining her decision, Mrs Collins said by “subordinating the interests of the country to his own selfish interests [Trump] bears significant responsibility for the invasion of the Capitol.

“The abuse of power and betrayal of his oath by President Trump meet the constitutional standard of ‘high crimes and misdemeanours’ and for those reasons I voted to convict Donald J. Trump.”