Senators voted 57-43 on whether to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors for "willfully inciting violence against the government of the United States."
All Democrats voted to find him “guilty,” the question technically before the Senate, and they were joined by 7 Republican senators – short of the 67 votes or two-thirds majority needed for conviction.
The vote comes about five weeks after the Jan. 6 attack, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the counting of President Biden's Electoral College victory. The Democratic-led House moved to impeach Trump exactly a week later, with the support of 10 Republicans.
The aftermath of the attack is still visible around the Capitol, where a fenced perimeter surrounds the Capitol and National Guard troops remain stationed around the complex.
Underscoring the seriousness of the trial, senators voted from their offices, where they had been asked to sit on Jan. 6 as staff rushed to lock down the room after rioters breached the building.
The Senate trial, Trump's second in about a year, was filled with historical markers: Trump is the only president to go through the process twice and the first to face trial after leaving office. Unlike previous trials, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the president pro tempore – not the chief justice – presided.
But the outcome had been expected for weeks as a growing number of Republican senators embraced the argument that it was unconstitutional to convict a president after he was removed from office by voters.
The Senate has already held two votes on the constitutionality of the trial, with 45 and then 44 Republicans saying it was not. The votes underscored how few Republican senators were willing to condemn Trump, even as the party was angry with him following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
You can read more here: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/538721-live-coverage-senate-expected-to-deliver-trump-verdict-today
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