US Senate fails to impeach Donald Trump

The US Senate falls short of a two-thirds majority needed to convict former president Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection on Capitol Hill on 6 January

14 February 2021, 3:14am
by Kurt Sansone

1 min read

Former US president Donald Trump has survived two impeachment votes at the hands of the American senate

The US Senate has fallen short of the two-thirds majority required to find former president Donald Trump guilty of inciting riots on Capitol Hill last month.

A majority of US senators, including seven Republicans, voted 57 to 43 in favour of convicting Trump on a charge of incitement to insurrection. However, the vote fell short of the 67 required for conviction.

This is the second impeachment vote that Trump has survived. It would have barred him from contesting elections ever again.

After his acquittal, Trump released a statement denouncing the trial as "the greatest witch hunt in history".

On 6 January, a mob that had previously attended a Trump rally in Washington DC, stormed Capitol Hill as senators inside were ratifying the US presidential election result.

Trump was accused of inciting the mob to violence in what was termed an insurrection even by some of the former president’s allies.

Trump lost the November election to Democrat Joe Biden, amid unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud.

Kurt Sansone is Executive Editor of MaltaToday. He was formerly deputy editor of MaltaTod...