President Trump acquitted on both impeachment charges, avoids removal
WASHINGTON - The Senate acquitted President Donald Trump for his dealings with Ukraine on Wednesday, culminating months of bitter partisan clashes over accusations he tried to cheat in the 2020 election by pressuring the U.S. ally to investigate political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
The Republican-led Senate voted to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment - abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, was the only senator to cross party lines by voting to convict for abuse of power.
Here is how the day and events played out. Refresh for updates.
Protest gathers outside Capitol following acquittal vote
A group of about 200 protestors, organized by progressive groups like Common Cause, Indivisible, Greenpeace, and the Women's March, gathered outside the Capitol following the Senate’s votes to acquit Trump.
Protestors shouted “Moscow Mitch,” “shame,” and “November is too late” as they rallied against Trump. Kim Shyman, a 59-year-old candy company owner from Maryland, said she joined in the protest because she “could not sit at home with this going on.”
The trial was a “sham,” she said and the acquittal was “awful.” Sara Anzalone from New York, 21, told USA TODAY she met the group at the Women’s March.
“I think that, you know, getting a foreign power to interfere with our country is just completely against the constitution and completely out of his power,” Anzalone said. “And I really think that he should be held responsible and it really kind of makes me pissed off that he could have been held accountable today. So, I'm coming out here to show my support for other people who are agreeing with me and agree that he should have removed from office today.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., addressed the crowd to cheers, and shouts of “fascist” when she said Trump’s name.
Trump has been “committing crimes and cover-ups in broad daylight,” she said. “I will focus my ire on Senate Republicans. Shame on you, Mitch McConnell. We will not forget this betrayal."
A man pulled a “roaming anti-Trump bandwagon” around the perimeter of the protest, giving out anti-Trump paraphernalia.
-Nicholas Wu and Savannah Behrmann, USA TODAY
Pelosi highlights bipartisan trial vote against Trump
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a statement saying the Senate vote to acquit Trump “normalized lawlessness and rejected the system of checks and balances in our Constitution.”
Trump and Senate Republicans who acquitted the president had criticized the two articles of impeachment for being supported by only Democrats in the House. GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah joined Senate Democrats in voting to convict Trump of abuse of power, but they fell short of the two-thirds majority required to remove Trump or even a majority. But Pelosi noted that Trump got the first bipartisan trial vote in history.
“The president will boast that he has been acquitted,” Pelosi said. “There can be no acquittal without a trial, and there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence. By suppressing the evidence and rejecting the most basic elements of a fair judicial process, the Republican Senate made themselves willing accomplices to the president’s cover-up.”
- Bart Jansen
Schumer calls Trump, GOP trial victory temporary
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said history would view Trump’s acquittal as a temporary win, while Republicans will face questions as additional evidence dribbles out.
“History will view this as a Pyrrhic victory for Senate Republicans and the Republican Party and for President Trump,” Schumer said. “They’re afraid to hear the other side. They’re afraid to hear the truth. They’re afraid to talk about what was right.”
Schumer complained against that the Senate voted largely along party lines to reject his proposals to subpoena witnesses and documents for additional evidence in the trial.
“I believe the American people will realize this is one of the largest coverups in the history of our nation,” Schumer said. “I believe the American people will know who stood in the way of truth.”
Schumer said the bipartisan vote for conviction, with GOP Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah joining Democrats in voting unsuccessfully to convict Trump for abuse of power, would go down in history.
“No one had illusions that the president would be convicted,” Schumer said. “But we made the fight for truth and we made the fight for facts and it created a bipartisan impeachment that can never be erased from history.”
- Bart Jansen
McConnell said impeachment is net win for GOP
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell focused his political commentary after the Senate acquittal on surmising that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been dragged into the impeachment inquiry against her better political judgment and then tried to get it over with as quickly as possible.
“I think this was a thoroughly political exercise from the beginning to the end,” said McConnell, R-Ky.
McConnell said he had observed Pelosi, D-Calif., carefully over the years because their leadership terms overlapped and they worked on appropriations bills together earlier in their careers.
“I’m pretty sure she didn’t want to do this,” McConnell said. “But the fact that she was pulled into this direction against what appeared to be her political instincts a year ago underscores that this was a purely political exercise.”
Pelosi resisted declaring an impeachment inquiry after special counsel Robert Mueller announced the results of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. But after revelations about Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, she declared a formal inquiry Sept. 24 that produced articles of impeachment before the end of the year.
“Having been dragged into something she instinctively felt was a mistake, then the second impulse was to get it over with as quickly as possible,” McConnell said of what he called an “abbreviated, truncated, rush job over in the House.”
McConnell then guessed that House Democrats would make the case a fight over witnesses in the Senate. But his staff counted 60 times when House managers had declared during the trial that they had already proved their case.
“I’m proud of my colleagues for seeing through that,” McConnell said of the nearly party-line votes to reject additional witnesses in the trial.
He also said it was right to avoid having Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts resolve a tie over witnesses, if a vote had come to that.
“It’s pretty clear that would have dragged the Supreme Court into the maelstrom,” McConnell said.
He concluded that impeachment was a political loser for Democrats because Trump enjoyed the highest approval ratings of his presidency.
“Right now this is a political loser for them,” McConnell said. “At least for the short term it has been a colossal political mistake.”
- Bart Jansen
President Trump acquitted on both impeachment charges
WASHINGTON - The Senate acquitted President Donald Trump for his dealings with Ukraine on Wednesday, culminating months of bitter partisan clashes over accusations he tried to cheat in the 2020 election by pressuring the U.S. ally to investigate political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
The Republican-led Senate voted to acquit Trump on two articles of impeachment - abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, was the only senator to cross party lines by voting to convict for abuse of power. Conviction was always unlikely in the GOP-led Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority because it required the support of at least two-thirds of the Senate or 67 senators.
Trump was just the third president to face a Senate impeachment trial in U.S. history. Former Presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton 1999 were both acquitted.
More: What we learned (and still don't know) after the Trump impeachment saga
The thrust of the accusations from House Democrats was that Trump invited foreign influence in the 2020 election by pressuring Ukraine to gather dirt on Biden, and then stonewalled the investigation after getting caught. The lead House manager who prosecuted the case, Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the misconduct was part of a pattern, which included invitations to Russia and China to investigate his rivals, that would continue if left unchecked.
“You can’t trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of the country,” Schiff said. “A man without character or ethical compass will not find his way.”
More: Sen. Mitt Romney will vote to convict President Trump on abuse of power charge
But Trump’s defense lawyers and congressional Republicans argued the president’s conduct didn’t warrant removal from office and amounted to a policy dispute. Trump’s defiance of subpoenas during the investigation was to protect the executive privilege, to keep advice from top aides confidential, according to his defenders.
“The president has done nothing wrong, and these types of impeachments must end,” said White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
The main allegation was that Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, while withholding $391 million in military aid and a White House meeting.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced the inquiry Sept. 24, after revelations about Trump’s July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. During the call, Trump urged his counterpart to investigate Biden and his son, Hunter, who worked at the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings. Trump has claimed Biden strong-armed the Ukrainian government to fire its top prosecutor in order to thwart an investigation into Burisma.
"Pelosi disgraced herself': GOP outraged by Pelosi ripping up Trump State of the Union speech
House Democrats impeached Trump on Dec. 18 after taking depositions from 17 current and former federal officials and gathering more than 28,000 pages of evidence. Senators asked 180 questions during the trial.
Through testimony and depositions, Democrats pieced together what they have argued is a chronology of Trump’s effort to pressure Ukraine’s government into announcing investigations into the Bidens.
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, testified that he assured Ukraine officials at the White House July 10 that a meeting would be arranged between Trump and Zelensky in exchange for investigations.
“Mr. Giuliani’s requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a White House visit for President Zelensky,” Sondland said.
A staffer from the White House Office of Management and Budget announced the suspension of the aid to Ukraine during a July 18 National Security Council conference call. “I and others sat in astonishment,” testified Bill Taylor, the former top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine. “I also said I think it’s crazy to withhold security assistance for help with a political campaign,” Taylor later told other diplomats.
A whistleblower filed a complaint Aug. 12 with the inspector general for the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, about Trump’s July 25 call with Zelensky. Atkinson said the complaint “appeared credible.”
House committees announced an investigation on Sept. 9. And Trump released the aid Sept. 11.
“President Trump tried to cheat, he got caught, and then he worked hard to cover it up,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., one of the House managers.
But Trump’s defenders argued the president had the sole authority to conduct foreign affairs and that the request stemmed from longstanding concerns about corruption in Ukraine. Trump repeatedly called the investigation a partisan “witch hunt” and a “hoax.”
Alan Dershowitz, who represented Trump, cited arguments from scholars from the period 150 years ago – around Johnson’s impeachment – that the “high crimes and misdemeanors” of impeachment should be based on criminal statutes such as treason and bribery described in the Constitution.
“It is inconceivable that the framers would have intended so politically loaded and promiscuously deployed a term as abuse of power to be weaponized as a tool of impeachment,” Dershowitz said.
Trump’s defense focused on the House procedures and called the inquiry illegitimate because it began with Pelosi’s announcement rather than the House vote authorizing it on Oct. 31. Patrick Philbin, a deputy White House counsel, called the impeachment “defective” and “half-baked” because 23 subpoenas were issued before the House vote and because the Democrats decided not to fight in court for testimony from witnesses such as former national security adviser John Bolton.
-Bart Jansen
Mitt Romney will vote to convict Trump on the first article of impeachment
WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said he’ll vote to convict President Donald Trump on the first article of impeachment – abuse of power – in the Senate trial.
Romney's office said he will not vote to convict on the second article of impeachment - obstruction of Congress.
“The president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust,” he said. “A president can indeed commit acts against the public trust that are so egregious that while they are not statutory crimes they would demand removal from office."
Romney’s decision makes him the first and perhaps only Republican to announce he would vote to convict the president.
The 2012 Republican nominee for president choked up at times as he discussed his decision- making process. Calling it the “most difficult decision” he ever faced, Romney said the question before senators was whether Trump’s actions rose to the level of a “high crime and misdemeanor.”
“Yes, he did,” Romney said.
Mitt Romney: a solitary GOP voice battling Trump for the soul of the Republican Party
Trump’s alleged actions - pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival - amounted to “a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security interests, and our fundamental values,” Romney said.
“Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine,” he argued.
Romney acknowledged he would face a backlash from within his party, and “abuse” from Trump and his supporters, but he had an “inescapable conviction” that his oath demanded he adhere to the facts of the case.
“We’re all footnotes at best in the annals of history. But in the most powerful nation on earth, the nation conceived in liberty and justice, that is distinction enough for any citizen,” he concluded.
- Nicholas Wu
Sen. Gardner, a swing-state Republican, will vote to acquit
Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who faces a tough re-election race this year, announced on the Senate floor he would vote to acquit President Donald Trump on both articles of impeachment.
“What we did not see over the last two weeks was a conclusive reason to remove the President of the United States,” he said.
Gardner said removal would “nullify the 2016 election” and “rob half the country of their preferred candidate for the 2020 election.”
The House had not proved its case, he said, so “it’s time to move forward with the people’s business” beyond impeachment.
- Nicholas Wu
Sen. Feinstein says nearly 90,000 constituents contacted her office
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said calls, emails and letters were pouring into her office supporting the conviction of President Donald Trump at a rate “seldom seen” in her 27 years in the chamber.
“Nearly 90,000 constituents have contacted my office in support of impeachment, compared to 20,000 in opposition,” said Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. “I’m heartened to see an engaged American public at such a difficult time for our country. It’s clear to me where Californians stand on this issue and I thank everyone who took the time to contact my office with their views.”
- Bart Jansen
Sen. Jones announces he'll vote to convict Trump
Following a speech on the Senate floor announcing his decision to convict President Donald Trump on two articles of impeachment, Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., told reporters his reelection was not a major concern for him.
“No, did y'all hear that speech? Did anybody hear that speech? It has never crossed my mind,” he said when asked if he was concerned about reelection.
Asked about Republican challenger Jeff Sessions’ attacks on him, Jones smiled, shrugged, and said, “So?" Sessions served as Trump's attorney general.
Jones said his decision had been made consulting with his staff, who “put in a lot of time and a lot of hours,” rather than with his Democratic colleagues.
The Alabama Democrat said he made up his mind “just a couple of days ago" adding that, "I did what I thought was the right thing.”
The Senate Leadership Fund, a political campaign committee aimed at electing Republicans to the Senate, predicted that Jones would be voted out of office for his position on impeachment.
"The Senate Leadership Fund would like to be the first to congratulate Doug Jones on his impending retirement from politics,” said Jack Pandol, communications director for the fund. “From voting against Justice Kavanaugh, to opposing the border wall, to repeatedly supporting abortion, Jones hasn't made an effort to hide his far-left stripes.”
- Nicholas Wu
Sen. Jones announces he'll vote to convict Trump
Sen. Doug Jones, an Alabama Democrat who has previously not said how he'd vote in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, announced Wednesday he would vote to convict the president because his misconduct reflected an abuse of power rather than simply being inappropriate.
“In this case, the evidence clearly proves the president used the weight of his office and that of the United States government to seek to coerce a foreign government to interfere in our election for his personal political benefit,” Jones said a statement. “With impeachment as the only check on such presidential wrongdoing, I felt I must vote to convict on the first charge of abuse of power.”
Jones said he was sensitive to protecting presidential powers, giving him pause about the charge of obstruction of Congress. But he said it was critical for Congress to retain its powers, too.
“In this matter it was clear from the outset that the President had no intention whatsoever of any accommodation with Congress when he blocked both witnesses and documents from being produced,” Jones said.
The vote comes as Jones faces a challenging campaign this year in a conservative state. Jones beat Republican Roy Moore with 50% of the vote in a special election in 2017 to succeed Jeff Sessions, who became Trump’s first attorney general. Jones could face Moore or Sessions this year.
Jones said in December that he hadn’t watched all of the testimony and debate in the House inquiry, saying he was still “trying to see if the dots get connected.”
Jones said he tried to cut through the partisan fog by reading thousands of pages of transcripts, watching videos of testimony, taking copious notes, reviewing history and discussing precedents with colleagues.
“Senators are elected to make tough choices,” Jones said. “The gravity of this moment, the seriousness of the charges, and the implications for future presidencies and Congresses all contributed to the difficulty with which I have arrived at my decision.”
- Bart Jansen
Sen. Kamala Harris: Senate trial is 'miscarriage of justice'
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said the Senate impeachment trial has been a "miscarriage of justice," claiming President Donald Trump is getting away with abusing his power.
“The Senate trial of Donald Trump has been a miscarriage of justice,” said Harris, a former prosecutor. “Donald Trump is going to get away with abusing his position of power for personal gain, abusing his position of power to stop Congress from looking into his misconduct.”
“He’s going to escape accountability because a majority of senators have decided to let him,” Harris said.
- Bart Jansen
Hawley: impeachment is a 'circus.' Alexander calls it 'shallow'
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., gave a fiery speech blasting House Democrats for initiating an unauthorized inquiry that resulted in the first partisan impeachment in history.
“Animating it all has been the bitter resentment of a professional political class that cannot accept the verdict of the people in 2016, that cannot accept the people’s priorities and that now seeks to overturn the election and entrench themselves in power,” Hawley said during a speech on the Senate floor. “We must leave this impeachment circus behind us.”
Senators will vote today on whether to acquit or convict President Donald Trump of two articles of impeachment – abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., called Trump’s conduct pressuring Ukraine to investigate his rival “inappropriate,” but said the decision about whether to remove him from office should be left to the voters.
“If this shallow, hurried and wholly partisan impeachment were to succeed, it would rip the country apart, pouring gasoline on the fire of cultural divisions that already exist,” Alexander said. “It would create a weapon of permanent impeachment to be used against future presidents whenever the House of Representatives is of a different political party.”
- Bart Jansen
Trump to meet with Venezuela's opposition leader before vote
As senators await to vote on the impeachment verdict, President Donald Trump will engage in some foreign policy Wednesday by meeting with the opposition leader in Venezuela.
The session with Juan Guaido is an opportunity for Trump "to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to the people of Venezuela and to discuss how we can work with President Guaido to expedite a democratic transition in Venezuela," said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
Guaido declared himself interim president in 2019 after President Nicholas Maduro was sworn into office for a second term. Maduro’s re-election was marred by accusations of fraud and election rigging.
Trump also welcomed Guaido to Tuesday's State of the Union speech, hailing him as Venezuela's rightful leader denied power by the socialist government in Caracas.
Guaido is scheduled to arrive at the White House at 2 p.m. EST, two hours before the Senate impeachment vote.
Trump, who expects to be acquitted by the Senate, is planning to address impeachment later in the day – after the vote.
- David Jackson and Deirdre Shesgreen
Sen. Cornyn: impeachment is 'nuclear option'
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said when it comes resolving policy disputes between Congress and the White House, impeachment is the “nuclear option."
Cornyn said he would vote to acquit Trump because House Democrats failed to provide enough evidence of a high crime or misdemeanor.
“Impeaching the president of the United States is simply the gravest undertaking we can pursue in this country,” Cornyn said. “It is a choice of last resort when a president has committed a crime so serious that Congress must act rather than leave the choice to the voters in the election.”
Cornyn argued said House Democrats failed to prove evidence of a crime and also argued the accusation of obstruction of Congress, stemming from Trump's defiance of subpoenas, would make future presidents subservient to the legislative branch if enforced.
“They channeled personal, policy and political grievances, and attempted to use the most solemn responsibility of Congress to bring down a political rival in a partisan process,” Cornyn said of House Democrats.
- Bart Jansen
Merkley urges GOP to remove Trump from office
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., was the first of dozens of senators expected to speak in the chamber Wednesday before voting on the verdict in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
Merkley made no secret of where he stood in supporting conviction of Trump. He recited how the president directed his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to work with U.S. government officials to withhold an Oval Office meeting and $391 million in military aid for Ukraine unless that country investigated former Vice President Joe Biden.
“When our president invites and pressures a foreign government to smear a political opponent and corrupt the integrity of our 2020 presidential election, he must be removed from office,” Merkley said.
Trump is expected to be acquitted because removal would require a two-thirds majority in a chamber with 53 Republicans and 47 members of the Democratic caucus. Merkley directed his comments to Republicans, some of whom have acknowledged inappropriate behavior by Trump but said it didn’t warrant removal from office.
- Bart Jansen
Senate poised to acquit Trump, end trial
It's decision day for the Senate – and a pivotal day for President Donald Trump.
The Senate impeachment trial will end Wednesday when senators, who have served as jurors through weeks of arguments and debate, vote on whether to acquit Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, or to convict him and remove him from office.
The historic vote at 4 p.m. EST culminates months of investigations and debate over Trump's alleged efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden by withholding $391 million in security aid. For senators, the vote will be one of the most-remembered of their careers and will surely play a role in 2020 congressional campaigns.
On Monday and Tuesday, senators spent hours explaining their positions in 10-minute speeches on the Senate floor and Trump gave his annual State of the Union address . The speeches will continue Wednesday.
‘He shouldn’t have done it': GOP senator who scolded Trump on Ukraine explains why he backs acquittal
But the result of the final vote has been anticipated for months, even before the House voted Dec. 18 to impeach Trump on two articles of impeachment: abuse of power for the alleged Ukraine pressure campaign and obstruction of Congress for directing his administration to defy subpoenas for witnesses and documents. That's because a two-thirds majority of the Senate is required to convict and remove a president from office, which is unlikely in a chamber with 53 Republicans and 47 members of the Democratic caucus.
The trial has hinged on whether the seven impeachment managers, all Democratic House members prosecuting the case, could make a convincing enough case against Trump to persuade enough Senate Republicans to vote with Democrats on the president's conviction.
The managers argued that Trump tried to cheat in the 2020 election and then tried to cover it up.
“You can’t trust this president to do the right thing, not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of our country," said the lead manager, Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif. “A man without character or ethical compass will not find his way.”
Rep. Jason Crow: Democrat reads from his children's Constitutions during the Trump impeachment trial
But Trump's defense team argued that Democrats' accusations were unproven and that impeachment would threaten future presidents with removal over policy disputes if he were convicted. The defense lawyers argued that neither of the two articles alleged violations of criminal statutes, as was customary in previous impeachments. And they argued that if the obstruction charge were upheld, confidential advice to future presidents would be at risk.
“We have an impeachment that is purely partisan and political. It’s opposed by bipartisan members of the House," said White House counsel Pat Cipollone. “It is wrong. There is only one answer to that, and the answer is to reject those articles of impeachment, to have confidence in the American people, to have confidence in the result of the upcoming election, to have confidence and respect for the last election and not throw it out."
The vote will end only the third Senate trial of a president, after the acquittals of Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999. Pelosi announced the inquiry Sept. 24. The House voted to authorize it Oct. 31. No House Republicans joined Democrats to impeach Trump in December.
The House provided the Senate with 28,578 pages of evidence in the trial, including 17 depositions of current and former government officials. Senators asked 180 questions of House managers and Trump's defense team.
Nancy Pelosi: It was 'sad' for Mitch McConnell to 'humiliate' Chief Justice John Roberts with witness vote
But congressional Democrats wanted to hear from more witnesses, most notably former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton after excerpts from his forthcoming book surfaced during the trial and appeared to counter the president's defense. The debate over whether to hear witnesses became a heated issue and was a crucial test of whether Democrats could bring Republicans to their side.
A Democratic push to subpoena additional witnesses or documents failed Friday. Only two Republicans – Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney of Utah – joined Democrats in an unsuccessful effort to call Bolton. Broader proposals to subpoena more witnesses and documents were rejected in party-line votes.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the impeachment was a partisan effort by Democrats and must be rejected.
‘He shouldn’t have done it': GOP senator who scolded Trump on Ukraine explains why he backs acquittal
“We must vote to reject the House abuse of power,” McConnell said Tuesday on the Senate floor. “Vote to protect our institutions. Vote to reject new precedents that would reduce the framers’ design to rubble. Vote to keep factional fever from boiling over and scorching our republic. Vote to acquit the president of these charges.”
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said the House managers failed to meet the “high bar” set by the nation’s founders to remove a president from office.
“Removing the president from office – and from the ballots for the upcoming election – would almost certainly plunge the country into even greater political turmoil,” he said.
A handful of Republicans said Trump's conduct was inappropriate but said it wasn't worthy of removing him from office.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said that it was inappropriate for Trump to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent but that "the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate."
"The president’s behavior was shameful and wrong," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, but the foundation of the House case "was rotten."
'We’ll find the right time': Pompeo demurs on White House visit for Ukraine's Zelensky
Democrats argued that Trump should be removed or his misconduct would continue. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said House managers made a compelling case, and Republican opposition to gathering more evidence "fails the laugh test."
“The Republicans refused to get the evidence because they were afraid of what it would show, and that’s all that needs to be said," Schumer said.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said failure to convict Trump would send a terrible signal "that this president and any future president can commit crimes against the Constitution and the American people and get away with it."
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., whose state Trump won narrowly in 2016, said the White House engaged in a “systematic and unprecedented effort to cover up the scheme” in Ukraine.
"A vote against the articles of impeachment will set a dangerous precedent, and will be used by future presidents to act with impunity,” he argued.
Tensions high at State of the Union
The vote will come just a day after the president gave his State of the Union address, an event that put on display the country's divisions and between the president and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who led her caucus to impeach him.
The president refused to shake her hand after she introduced him. Pelosi ripped up his speech after he concluded his remarks. The two slights left many stunned and wondering whether the tensions between political parties would ever mend.
"I'm not sure I've ever seen the Speaker do something so disrespectful," Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said after watching Pelosi rip up the address just inches behind Trump's head.
State of the Union: Fact-checking Trump's claims on jobs, wealth and wages
Many Democrats said Pelosi's actions stemmed from frustration but others noted that the American public is counting on Congress to move forward and try to come together.
"Our Congress is a representative body and we represent a very divided country," said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., noting some of the topics touted by Trump were divisive. "I think it's our job to try and bridge the divides even when they're very sharp and very difficult."
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said he hadn't seen Pelosi ripping apart Trump's speech but caught Trump withholding a handshake with the speaker.
Susan Page: From a snub to a ripped speech to campaign messaging, this was not your typical address
"The speaker extended the invitation to President Trump to deliver the speech on behalf of the House of Representatives. She was gracious enough to extend her hand," he said. "Notwithstanding the nasty personal comments that he's continuously directed at her. And he behaved like a petulant child."
The speech, in the House chamber where Trump was impeached just weeks ago, did not mention impeachment or the president's almost certain-acquittal Wednesday in the Republican-dominated Senate.
What happened Tuesday: Sen. Susan Collins said she'll vote to acquit Trump
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump acquitted in Senate impeachment trial over Ukraine charges
