Donald Trump acquitted by US Senate in 2nd impeachment trial

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ The United States Senate has acquitted Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial, as it fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict the former president on a charge of inciting the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Following four days of the impeachment trial, the 100-member Senate voted to impeach Trump by 57-43 votes, 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for conviction.

Trump, a Republican, is the first-ever president to have been impeached twice and the first president to have faced impeachment after leaving office. Trump, 74, faced the charge of incitement of insurrection over the deadly January 6 assault of the US Capitol by his supporters.

Seven Republican Senators — Bill Cassidy, Richard Burr, Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Ben Sasse and Pat Toomey — voted in favour of impeaching him. If he had been convicted, the Senate could have voted to bar him from running for office ever again. Trump released a statement soon after the acquittal, saying “no president has ever gone through anything like it”.