The US Senate has acquitted President Donald Trump of both articles of impeachment he was charged with by the House of Representatives in December.

The Senate first acquitted Trump on the abuse of power charge, followed shortly by the obstruction of Congress charge. This keeps Trump in office as he lobbies for a second term.

The acquittal comes as Vice President Mike Pence helms a Women for Trump event in East Pennsboro Township, alongside Trump administration spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

___

(c)2020 The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.)

Visit The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.) at www.pennlive.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Mitt Romney announces he will vote with Democrats to convict Trump

The following are entries from a Fox News Live Blog as Mitt Romney spoke on the Senate floor. They are in reverse order with the first statement at the bottom.

Romney will vote to convict President Trump of abuse of power.

Romney says his vote will be in the minority, but says “with these things I will tell my children and my children’s children, I did my duty to the best of my ability, believing my country expected it of me.”

Romney: “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.”

Romney: “The president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust.”

Romney says while he votes with the president 80 percent of time, he must put that aside.

He says he will vote to convict the president.

Romney says the president’s counsel did not present evidence of a crime. He says if their names were not Biden, Trump would never have done what he did.

He says while the claim to leave it up to the voters is “appealing,” it is “inconsistent’ with constitutional requirements.

Romney says Biden should have recused himself from questions surrounding the Ukrainian prosecutor: “While conflict of interest is not a crime it is very wrong.”

Romney says the allegations in the articles of impeachment are very serious.

Romney: “I am profoundly religious, my faith is at the heart of who I am.”

Romney is clearly emotional as he talks about the choices before him.

Romney is now speaking.

Reaction follows:

No votes yet.
Please wait...