On February 13, 2021, Former President Donald J. Trump was acquitted in his second impeachment trial. Under the cosponsors of 218 Democrats in the House of Representatives, then 45th President Donald J. Trump was impeached for the second time for “inciting” the US Capitol riot which occurred on January 6th, 2021. After the impeachment in the House of Representatives with 232 in favor and 197 against, the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that the Articles of Impeachment will be delivered on January 25th to the Senate floor. Then the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) agreed to the proposal from the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to hold the impeachment trial on February 9th after Mitch McConnell refused to hold the impeachment in the Senate as long as President Trump was in office. Midway through the preparation period for the impeachment trial, Donald J. Trump’s lead lawyers quit the team and left Donald Trump to build a new defense team with a week left until the trial. Following the two weeks of preparation for both the House impeachment managers and the former president’s defense team, the first night of the impeachment trial began with the debate on the constitutionality of the proceeding. After the debate between the House impeachment managers and the defense team, a vote turned out as 56 to 44 with the proceeding deemed constitutional. Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the lead House impeachment manager provided footage of the rioters forcefully entering the US Capitol, and ransacking the Senate chamber and the offices of Democratic lawmakers. On the second day of the impeachment trial, the House impeachment managers showcased never before seen footage of the evacuations of both the House and the Senate lawmakers. Those footages revealed that the Former Vice President, then Vice President Mike Pence being ushered out of the Senate Chamber into safety, Officer Eugene Goodman directing and saving Republican Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) from the mobs, and the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) running for safety from the nearby mobs with his security detail blocking the doorway. On the third day of the impeachment trial, the House impeachment managers pointed out the lack of remorse by the former president and the former president’s remark leading to his supporters protesting and entering the Michigan Capitol with weapons. On the fourth day of the impeachment trial, the defense team argued that Former President Donald Trump’s remark of “Stop the Steal” had no effect on the insurrection on January 6th and that it was a simple uttered word protected under the First Amendment. The defense team also provided the jurors with a video of various Democratic lawmakers uttering the word “fight.” Fox News presenter Chris Wallace when asked about the video made a remark, “It was ludicrous and counterproductive.” He made a reference to shouting fire in a crowded theatre is different to simply shouting fire 100 times, and stated that Former President Trump’s remarks were not the same as Democratic lawmakers stating “fight.” Finally on February 13, 2021, the Senate voted 55-45 for an additional witness with the House impeachment managers adding Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler’s statement on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Former President Donald Trump’s conversation during the Capitol riot in the record. However, the House impeachment managers abandoned their plan for extra witnesses and held a vote to either convict or acquit the Former President Donald J. Trump from high crimes and misdemeanors of “Inciting” the US Capitol riot. The vote ended with 57 voting for guilty and 43 voting for not guilty with 7 Republican Senators joining the 50 Democratic Senators. As 34 votes were needed to acquit the former president, the impeachment trial of Donald J. Trump concluded with the acquittal of the former president from “Inciting” the US Capitol riot on January 6th, 2021. The second impeachment of the Former President Donald J. Trump is the most bipartisan conviction in the Senate, however, the Department of Justice could still pursue criminal charges against the former president.
The Liberal Conservative 