President Donald Trump’s impeachment saga came to a close Wednesday when the Senate voted against removing him from office.
The outcome caps nearly five months of impeachment proceedings launched in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House and ending with acquittal on two charges in Mitch McConnell’s Senate.
Arizona’s senators, Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, voted with their parties. Sinema has been considered a wild card until she announced her intention shortly before the vote.
It was the third Senate impeachment trial in U.S. history. The president was acquitted each time.
On the first article of impeachment, Trump was charged with abuse of power for pressuring Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The second article was obstruction of Congress for impeding the investigation into the accusations.
The vote was 52 not guilty, 48 guilty on the abuse of power article, with Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah the only senator to stray from his party.
It was 53-47 on the obstruction of justice charge, fully along party lines.
For Trump to have been removed, at least one of the articles needed 67 guilty votes.
House impeachment managers had warned that Trump, if left unchecked, would continue to abuse the power of his office for personal political gain and try to “cheat” again ahead of the 2020 election.
During the nearly three-week trial, House Democrats prosecuting the case argued that Trump abused power like no other president in history.
Trump and his GOP allies in Congress argued that Democrats have been trying to undercut him from the start.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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