Senate Acquits Trump in First Impeachment Trial

The Senate Trial

The Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump began on January 16, 2020, with Chief Justice John Roberts presiding. Over the following weeks, House impeachment managers led by Representative Adam Schiff presented their case, arguing that Trump had abused the power of his office by pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival and had obstructed Congress by blocking witnesses and documents. Trump’s defense team, which included lawyers Ken Starr and Alan Dershowitz, argued that the president’s actions did not rise to the level of impeachable offenses.

The Witness Debate

A pivotal moment in the trial came when the Senate voted on whether to call additional witnesses. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton had reportedly written in an unpublished manuscript that Trump had directly told him the Ukraine aid was conditioned on investigations into the Bidens. Despite this bombshell revelation, the Senate voted 51-49 against hearing from witnesses, with only two Republicans — Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine — voting in favor. The decision effectively ensured an acquittal, drawing criticism that the trial lacked the rigor of a genuine fact-finding process.

The Acquittal

On February 5, 2020, the Senate voted to acquit Trump on both articles. On the abuse of power charge, the vote was 52-48 for acquittal, falling far short of the two-thirds majority needed for conviction. On the obstruction of Congress charge, the vote was 53-47. Senator Mitt Romney of Utah became the only Republican to vote for conviction, and the only senator in American history to vote to convict a president of his own party. Romney, visibly emotional on the Senate floor, said his oath before God compelled him to find Trump guilty.

Romney’s Historic Vote

In a speech that drew immediate national attention, Romney declared that Trump was “guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust” and that “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’s vote earned him both praise and fierce condemnation within the Republican Party. Trump and his allies attacked Romney relentlessly in the weeks that followed, and the vote marked a definitive break between Romney and the Trump wing of the party.

Aftermath

Trump declared the acquittal a “full vindication” and held a celebratory event at the White House where he attacked those who had participated in the impeachment process. The acquittal, however, did not end the controversies surrounding Ukraine. The episode foreshadowed the lengths to which Trump would go to remain in power, a pattern that would become more pronounced after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.