US President Donald Trump acquitted in impeachment trial

US President Donald Trump has been cleared in his impeachment trial after a congressional bid to remove him from office since he was charged in December of last year.

Trump was acquitted 52-48 on the charge of abuse of power and 53-47 on the charge of obstruction of Congress by the US Senate run by Republicans. 

"President Trump has been totally vindicated and it's now time to get back to the business of the American people. The do-nothing Democrats know they can't beat him, so they had to impeach him," the Trump campaign said in a statement on Wednesday.

Trump denied any wrongdoing.

Mitt Romney is the only Republican senator who voted to convict Trump on the first charge of abuse of power. Two other Republican senators, Susan Collins and Losa Murkowsi did not join Romney despite Democratic hopes that they would.

A two-thirds majority vote was needed to remove Trump, something which had always seemed far-fetched given that the chamber is controlled by Trump's party. 

Trump will be the only president in US history to go for an election after being impeached. The election will take place in November.

The impeachment charges were approved by the House of Representatives after Trump had alleged that Biden's son had held a board position with a Ukrainian natural gas company, citing a conflict of interest since his father was US vice-president at the time and in charge of relations between the US and Ukraine.  

Democrats later accused Trump of abusing his power by withholding $391 million in security aid to compel Ukraine's president into digging up dirt on the Bidens.

Trump was the third president to be impeached after Bill Clinton in 1998 and Andrew Johnson in 1868.