Former US President Donald Trump on Saturday welcomed his acquittal in the US Senate on an impeachment charge and said his political movement ‘has only just begun.’
“Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun,” Trump said in a statement issued just moments after the Senate vote. “In 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,” he said.
The vote was 57-43, 10 short of the two-thirds needed for conviction. Seven Republicans broke from their party to find Trump guilty. Trump, unrepentant, welcomed his second impeachment acquittal and said his movement ‘has only just begun.’ He slammed the trial as “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country.”
The quick trial, the nation’s first of a former president, showed how perilously close the invaders had come to shatter the nation’s deep tradition of a peaceful transfer of presidential power after Trump had refused to concede the election. Rallying outside the White House on Jan. 6, he unleashed a mob of supporters to ‘fight like hell’ for him at the Capitol just as Congress was certified Democrat Joe Biden‘s election victory.
Though he was acquitted, it was easily the largest number of senators to ever vote to find a president of their own party guilty of an impeachment charge. Voting to find Trump guilty were GOP Sens. 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 Toomey of Pennsylvania.