By Denny Gulino
–Trump: MAGA Campaign ‘Has Only Just Begun’
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The U.S. Senate Saturday came up 10 Republican votes short of conviction, leaving Donald Trump to declare his MAGA campaign “has only just begun.”
The 57 votes against Trump were the biggest and most bipartisan majority yet for conviction of the four impeachments in history but were not enough to meet the requirement in the Constitution for a two-thirds majority.
After the vote for acquittal Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer gave an impassioned floor address saying the prosecution case was “open and shut.” There is “only one answer” to the question whether Capitol attack would have happened without Trump. “Of course not.”
Curiously, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, after voting “not guilty” delivered an equally impassioned condemnation of Trump’s behavior before and during the Capitol attack with an important difference, justifying his vote by saying the Senate did not have the necessary jurisdiction to judge someone who is now a private citizen. His fate should now be up to “civil justice” and, “He didn’t get away with anything – yet.”
McConnell’s statement on the Senate floor was followed by remarks of several of his Republican colleagues agreeing with his assessment of Trump’s singular triggering of the Capitol invasion.
One of the nine House impeachment managers, Rep. Joaquin Castro, afterwards said Trump escaped “on a technicality.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the “cowardly group of Republicans” who voted to acquit apparently had not other options than to protect their jobs. “What’s so important about the political survival of any one of us.” She said it was McConnell’s decision that prevented the trial while Trump was still president, and his assertion Trump was “ineligible” for prosecution was just an “excuse.”
Trump issued a statement from Mar a Lago immediately after the acquittal vote, declaring, “This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country.” Democrats “cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us.”
Trump said, “Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun.”
The afternoon initial reaction on the Fox News cable channel had none of the unqualified Trump support so typical of its opinion anchors programmed to appear at night, with a former deputy independent counsel Sol Wisenberg saying McConnell was pointing out, “It’s not over yet.” Another contributor, law professor Kimberly Wehle, said the Senate “punted” and gave a “green light” to violence on both sides from now on.
Two of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict, Senators Pat Toomey, R.Pa., and Richard Burr, R-South Carolina, were unexpected departures from their party’s majority. The others had previously indicated their anti-Trump leanings. They were Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Maine’s Susan Collins, Utah’s Mitt Romney, Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy and Nebraska’s Ben Sasse.
Contact this reporter: denny@macenews.com
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