Donald Trump acquitted on impeachment charges

The votes fell in favour of Trump, 48 guilty to 52 not guilty for abuse of power, and 47 guilty to 53 not guilty for obstruction of Congress, as few to one Republican party member were expected to vote to remove Trump from his position in office.

A two-thirds majority is needed for impeachment.

Members who voted against Trump include former U.S. Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who told Fox News that he believed Trump should be removed from office. Romney, a vocal never-Trumper, was the first and only Republican to support Trump’s removal.

Romney had said that he would vote for the first article of impeachment, but against the second article, obstruction of Congress. Romney argued that the Dems had not exhausted their legal options, but that the president had used his office’s power for personal gain. Mr. Romney did, in fact, end up voting guilty for the first article, and not guilty for the second.

“I believe that attempting to corrupt an election to maintain power is about as egregious an assault on the Constitution as can be made,” said Mr. Romney on FOX. “And for that reason, it is a high crime and misdemeanour, and I have no choice under the oath that I took but to express that conclusion.”

Trump was the third U.S. President to have been impeached, as the House of Representatives made the historic decision to impeach Trump on the two aforementioned articles of impeachment.

Impeachment was based on whether or not Trump had Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.