Daily US Times: Donald Trump was acquitted of inciting the horrific attack on the US Capitol, concluding a historic impeachment trial that spared him the first-ever conviction of a current or former president of the United States but exposed the fragility of America’s democratic traditions and left a divided nation to come to terms with the violence sparked by his defeated presidency.
Barely a month since the deadly January 6 riot that stunned the world, the Senate convened for a rare weekend session to deliver its verdict on the impeachment trial, voting while armed National Guard troops continued to stand their posts outside the iconic building.
The quick trial, the country’s first of a former president, showed in raw and emotional detail how perilously close the violent Trump supporters had come to destroying the ncountry’s deep tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power after Trump had refused to concede the election.
Rallying outside the White House, the then-president Trump unleashed a mob of supporters to “fight like hell” for him at the Capitol just as Congress was certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. As hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the building, some in tactical gear engaging in bloody combat with police, lawmakers fled for their lives. Five people died, among them a police officer.
The verdict, on a vote of 57-43, is all but certain to influence not only Mr Trump’s political future but that of the senators sworn to deliver impartial justice as jurors.
Seven Republicans joined all Democrats to convict Mr Trump, but it was far from the two-third threshold required Mr Trump to be acquitted.
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