Associated Press
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., leaves after the Senate heard closing arguments in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Feb. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
- On February 5, the Senate formally voted to acquit President Donald Trump of the two charges against him following a bitter impeachment trial.
- The House of Representatives impeached Trump in December for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Both charges center around his efforts to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election and his subsequent attempt to cover up his actions by stonewalling Congress' investigation of the matter.
- The Senate's decision to acquit Trump fell largely along party lines. The vote to clear him of the abuse of power was 52-48. The vote to clear him of obstruction of Congress was 53-47.
- Trump is the third president in US history to be impeached by the House but acquitted in a Senate trial.
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On February 5, the Senate formally voted to acquit President Donald Trump of two charges against him following a bitter impeachment trial.
The Senate's decision to acquit Trump fell almost entirely along party lines. The vote clearing him of both the abuse of power charge was 52-48. The vote to clear him of the abuse of power was 52-48. The vote to clear him of obstruction of Congress was 53-47.
Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was the sole Republican to break with his party by voting to convict Trump for abuse of power.
Vulnerable Democratic Senators including Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, Sen. Krysten Sinema of Arizona, and Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia who were previously considered possible swing votes all voted to convict, with no Democrats moving to acquit.
This is the first time in US history that a member of the president's own party voted to convict and remove him from office. It's also the first time that the entire opposing party voted to convict the president.
Who voted to convict Trump:
- Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL)
- Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-AZ)
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)
- Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
- Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)
- Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE)
- Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE)
- Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI)
- Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)
- Sen. Angus King (I-ME)
- Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
- Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA)
- Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI)
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN)
- Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)
- Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)
- Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV)
- Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
- Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH)
- Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
- Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
- Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM)
- Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
- Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)
- Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR)
- Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA)
- Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
- Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)
- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
- Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA)
- Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)
- Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
- Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
- Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)
- Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Who voted to acquit Trump:
- Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)
- Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
- Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ)
- Sen. John Boozman (R-AK)
- Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK)
- Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO)
- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
- Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL)
- Sen. David Perdue (R-GA)
- Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA)
- Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID)
- Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID)
- Sen. Todd Young (R-IN)
- Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN)
- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA)
- Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
- Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA)
- Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
- Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
- Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
- Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
- Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)
- Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)
- Sen. Deb Fischer (D-NE)
- Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE)
- Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
- Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
- Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND)
- Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
- Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
- Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
- Sen. James Lankford (R-OK)
- Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)
- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
- Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
- Sen. John Thune (R-SD)
- Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD)
- Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
- Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
- Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)
- Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
- Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
- Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY)
- Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
Trump is the third president in US history to be impeached by the House but acquitted in a Senate trial, following President Andrew Johnson in 1868 and President Bill Clinton in 1999.
Trump was impeached in December and charged with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Both articles of impeachment relate to his efforts to strong-arm Ukraine into interfering in the 2020 election while withholding $391 million in vital military aid and dangling a White House meeting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky desperately sought and still hasn't gotten.
At the center of the impeachment inquiry was a July 25 phone call during which Trump repeatedly pressured Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, over the latter's employment on the board of the Ukrainian natural-gas company Burisma Holdings.
Trump also asked Zelensky to help discredit the Russia probe by investigating a bogus conspiracy theory suggesting Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election to help Democrats and Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Documents and testimony from more than a dozen witnesses eventually revealed that the July phone conversation was just one data point in a months-long effort by Trump and his allies, including his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, to leverage the weight of the US government and foreign policy to force Ukraine into acceding to his political demands.
Wednesday's vote to acquit the president came after a heated trial in which the Republican-controlled Senate refused to subpoena documents or hear new witness testimony.
The move was unprecedented - the Senate called witnesses in all 15 impeachment trials in US history, including those of former Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
Senate Republicans' decision to block witnesses was especially noteworthy given that John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, announced he was willing to testify and had firsthand knowledge of the president's pressure campaign in Ukraine.
Read more:
28 senators who were in Congress for Clinton's impeachment, and how they voted then
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