The Senate also acquitted Donald Trump in the second impeachment trial, in which he was accused of inciting an assault by Congress.
57 votes in favor of the sentence, including seven Republicans.
There were 43 no. For the conviction, 67 votes were needed, or two thirds of the 100 senators.
Donald Trump also acquitted in the second impeachment trial, the only president to have been indicted twice and the first to face the proceedings after leaving the White House. A ruling announced after powerful Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell leaked an email to party colleagues announcing his intention to vote for the former president's acquittal. Thus burying any remaining hope of a conviction that required the support of at least 17 Grand Old Party senators to reach a two-thirds quorum. McConnell, who had publicly condemned Trump for instigating the assault on Congress, espoused the defensive thesis of the unconstitutionality of impeachment against an already fallen president, believing that it is "primarily a tool for his removal" and that the The Senate therefore has no jurisdiction. The GOP leader, however, stressed that "the constitution clearly states that the crimes of a president committed during his term can be prosecuted after he leaves the White House", thus leaving an open door to ongoing investigations in various prosecutors. One way of responding to the warning from Democratic prosecutors that admitting that a president cannot be tried by the Senate at the end of his term would mean that he has his hands free for any crime in the last weeks of his term. But in the end McConnell preferred to make the best of luck and embrace Trump again, as the majority of the party, to try to win back Congress as early as next year's Midterm election. The sentence decides the fate, now crossed again, of the former president and the Grand Old Party: the former, barring surprises on the judicial front, will be able to reapply in 2024, holding on to the Republicans, the latter is destined to remain a populist and sovereign party , however, with the risk of internal fractures. The showdown was opened by a small frond in parliament and by big boys like Nikki Haley, the former UN ambassador nominated by Trump and possible candidate for the White House in 2024, who has already dumped the former president.