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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Senate acquits President Trump in historic vote

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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump was acquitted on Wednesday in his US  Senate impeachment trial, saved by fellow Republicans who rallied to protect him nine months before he asks voters in a deeply divided America to give him a second White House term.


The businessman-turned-politician, 73, survived only the third presidential impeachment trial in US history - just like the two other impeached presidents - in his turbulent presidency’s darkest chapter. Trump now plunges into an election season that promises to further polarize the country.


Trump was acquitted largely along party lines on two articles of impeachment approved by the Democratic-led House of Representatives on Dec. 18. The votes to convict Trump fell far short of the two-thirds majority required in the 100-seat Senate to remove him from office under the US Constitution.


The Senate voted 52-48 to acquit Trump of abuse of power stemming from his request that Ukraine investigates political rival Joe Biden, a contender for the Democratic nomination to face him in the November 3 election. Republican Senator Mitt Romney joined the Democrats in voting to convict. No Democrat voted to acquit.


On each of the two charges, the senators stood at their desks on the Senate floor to vote one by one, with U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts presiding.


Trump watched the Senate vote with top aides in a White House dining room that he uses as a private study, a senior administration official said.


On Twitter, the president posted a video showing Trump campaign signs for future elections from 2024 onward ending with “Trump 4EVA.” The US Constitution limits a president to two elected four-year terms in office.


“President Trump has been totally vindicated and it’s now time to get back to the business of the American people,” Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, said in a statement.


 


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