February 6, 2020 - 10:37 AMT
Trump acquitted on all charges in Senate impeachment trial

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday, February 5 afternoon to acquit President Donald Trump on both articles of impeachment against him, New York Post reports.

The chamber first handily voted down the article alleging abuse of power, 52 – 48, affirming an outcome that was widely expected essentially since the trial’s start on January 21.

Minutes later, they voted 53-47 against the second article, alleging obstruction of Congress.

The effort to remove Trump from office needed the support of at least two-thirds — or 67 members — of the GOP-controlled body to carry, but Utah Sen. Mitt Romney was the only one of the 53 Republicans in the chamber to buck party lines and vote to convict on the first article.

He responded not guilty on the second article, making that acquittal a strict party-line vote.

Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat in the Trump stronghold of West Virginia, stuck to party lines, voting to convict.

No president has ever been removed from office via impeachment.

Senators will now vote on the second article of impeachment, alleging obstruction of Congress, for which an acquittal is also expected.

Approved in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in December, the two articles alleged wrongdoing by Trump in his request that Ukraine probe former US Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, over their dealings in Ukraine.

Democrats alleged that that ask — made during a July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — constituted a quid pro quo because $391 million in US military aid to Ukraine hung in the balance at the time.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and characterized the impeachment push as a partisan “witch hunt.”