Everything you need to know about Trump's impeachment

Written by Ayman Hossain

Donald trump, the 45th president of the United States, was acquitted in his second impeachment trial, for his role in the 6th January attack on the US Capitol. The senate fell 10 votes short of the 2/3 majority needed required to convict Mr. Trump.

Why was he impeached?

The house impeached trump in his final days in office, On one charge of "Incitement of insurrection", of the siege on the US Capitol. Trump invited supporters to Washington, and urged them to fight like hell, encouraging his supporters to go to the US Capitol. The attack came after the former president spent his final few weeks in office, trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He countlessly accused the democrats of stealing the election, the election being a fraud and even called the election rigged. Despite this, trump failed to give any strong evidence of the election being a fraud. He continued to irrationally accuse the Democrats, leading up to a speech where he stated, “If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. We are going to march down to the Capitol and we're going to cheer our brave Senators and congressmen and women.”

What occurred during the debate?

Jaime Raskin stated: "If this is not high crime and misdemeanour against The United States of America, then nothing is. President trump must be convicted, for the safety and democracy of our people.”

Trumps defence team relied on a technical argument stating that the proceedings were unconstitutional, as trump was no longer is office. Senator Mitch McConnell replied with “The assault on the Capitol amounted to a disgraceful dereliction of duty, who was responsible for provoking the events of the day.” Furthermore, McConnell said “President trump is still liable for everything he did in office, he hasn't got away with anything yet .”

Just moments after the not guilty verdict, Trump thanked Republicans who stood by him and decried what he called “Yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in history.”

Trump was the first President to be impeached twice and is now the first president to be acquitted twice. Although this decision, would mean he would be able to run for office in 2024, polling suggests that due to his violent transfer of power to Joe Biden, his reputation has been badly damaged.