{"id":11661,"date":"2021-02-14T04:05:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-14T12:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11661"},"modified":"2021-02-14T04:12:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T12:12:03","slug":"trump-acquitted-of-inciting-insurrection-even-as-bipartisan-majority-votes-guilty-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=11661","title":{"rendered":"“Trump Acquitted of Inciting Insurrection, Even as Bipartisan Majority Votes \u2018Guilty\u2019”, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Nicholas Fandos, front page lead, Sunday, Feb, 14, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

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The verdict was unlikely to be the final word<\/a> for former President Donald J. Trump, his badly divided party or the festering wounds the Jan. 6 riot that prompted the impeachment left behind<\/em><\/p>\n

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The House impeachment managers working in the Capitol on the last day of the impeachment trial against President Donald J. Trump.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Erin Schaff\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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WASHINGTON \u2014 A Senate still bruised from the most violent attack on the Capitol in two centuries acquitted former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday in his second impeachment trial, as all but a few Republicans locked arms to reject a case that he incited the Jan. 6 rampage in a last-ditch attempt to cling to power.<\/p>\n

Under the watch of National Guard troops still patrolling the historic building, a bipartisan majority cast votes finding Mr. Trump guilty of the House\u2019s single charge of \u201cincitement of insurrection.\u201d They included seven Republicans, more members of a president\u2019s party than have ever returned an adverse verdict in an impeachment trial.<\/p>\n

But with most of Mr. Trump\u2019s party coalescing around him, the 57-to-43 tally fell 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to convict, and allow the Senate to move to disqualify him from holding future office.<\/p>\n

Among the Republicans breaking ranks to find guilty the man who led their party for four tumultuous years, demanding absolute loyalty, were Senators 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 J. Toomey of Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

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The verdict brought an abrupt end to the fourth presidential impeachment trial in American history, and the only one in which the accused had left office before being tried. But it was unlikely to be the final word for Mr. Trump, his badly divided party or the sprawling criminal and congressional investigations<\/a> into the assault.<\/p>\n

It left behind festering wounds in Washington and around the country after a 39-day stretch unlike any in the nation\u2019s history \u2014 encompassing a deadly riot at the Capitol<\/a>, an impeachment of one president<\/a>, the inauguration of another<\/a> and a brief but rancorous trial in the Senate.<\/p>\n

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The House had charged Mr. Trump with a single count of \u201cincitement of insurrection.\u201d<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Doug Mills\/The New York Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It took only five days to reach a verdict, partly because Democrats and Republicans were united in their desire to avoid a prolonged proceeding and partly because Mr. Trump\u2019s allies made clear before it even began<\/a> that they were not prepared to hold him responsible. Most of the jury of senators had themselves witnessed the events that gave rise to the charge<\/a>, having fled for their own lives, along with the vice president, as the mob closed in last month while they met to formalize President Biden\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

Party leaders and even the president\u2019s most loyal supporters in the Senate did not defend his actions \u2014 a monthslong campaign<\/a>, seeded with election lies, to overturn his decisive loss to Mr. Biden that culminated when Mr. Trump told thousands of his supporters to \u201cfight like hell\u201d<\/a> and they did. Instead, in the face of a meticulous case brought by nine House prosecutors, they found safe harbor in technical arguments that the trial itself was not valid because Mr. Trump was no longer in office.<\/p>\n

But their overriding political calculation was clear. After party leaders briefly entertained using the process to purge Mr. Trump from their ranks, Republicans doubled down on a bet made five years ago: that it was better not to stoke another open confrontation with a man millions of their voters still singularly embrace.<\/p>\n

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Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the minority leader, embodied the tortured balancing act, denouncing Mr. Trump on Saturday, minutes after voting to acquit him, for a \u201cdisgraceful dereliction of duty.\u201d In blistering remarks from the Senate floor, Mr. McConnell, who had openly considered voting to convict Mr. Trump, effectively argued that he was guilty as charged, while arguing that there was nothing the Senate could do about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no question \u2014 none \u2014 that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,\u201d Mr. McConnell said. \u201cThe leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mr. McConnell, who refused to call the Senate back into session to hold the trial while Mr. Trump was still in office, argued that he could not be convicted once he no longer was. Mr. McConnell said the only way to punish him now was through the criminal justice system. Mr. Trump, he said, \u201cdidn\u2019t get away with anything yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minutes after the verdict, Mr. Trump, barred from Twitter<\/a>, broke an uncharacteristic silence he had maintained during the trial with a defiant statement issued from his post-presidential home in Florida, calling the proceeding \u201cyet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expressed no remorse for his actions, and strongly suggested that he planned to continue to be a force in politics for a long time to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the months ahead, I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people,\u201d Mr. Trump said.<\/p>\n

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The \u201cnot guilty\u201d verdict left him free to run for office again, but it remained unclear whether he could recover after he became the first president to seriously threaten the peaceful transfer of power<\/a>. Public polling suggests Republicans have pulled their support in droves since the events of last month, but an acquittal is likely to empower Mr. Trump with the party\u2019s activist base and further stoke the party\u2019s gaping divisions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n