‘It is truly sad and dangerous’: New England politicians condemn Trump’s acquittal
Every New England senator voted to impeach Trump and hold him responsible for the violence that unfolded last month.
Former president Donald Trump was acquitted in a 57-43 vote by the Senate Saturday during his historic second impeachment trial, clearing him of the charge that he incited the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan. 6 and leaving him free to pursue office again in the future.
Despite seven Republicans — among them Utah Senator Mitt Romney and Maine Senator Susan Collins — joining with Democrats in moving to convict Trump, the vast majority coalesced around the party’s former leader.
The tally ultimately fell 10 votes short of the two-thirds majority required to convict Trump. Every New England senator voted to impeach Trump and hold him responsible for the violence that unfolded last month.
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After the proceedings concluded, those including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders reacted swiftly, denouncing the decision of their Republican colleagues to stand with the former president.
Warren said Trump incited the “mob of domestic terrorists to attack our Capitol and overturn the election,” adding that even a group of Republicans were unable to “stomach his act of insurrection.”
“Our democracy must be stronger than the former president and the 43 senators who sided with him today,” Warren said.
Sanders said it is “truly sad and dangerous” that only seven of his Republican colleagues voted to convict Trump — “a president who is promoting a Big Lie, conspiracy theories and violence, and is aggressively trying to destroy American democracy.”
In a lengthy statement, Collins — one of the Republican senators who bucked the majority of their party and voted alongside Democrats to impeach Trump — said the attack at the Capitol was not “a spontaneous outbreak of violence” but was the “culmination of a steady stream of provocations by President Trump” aimed at overturning a fair and free election.
She outlined how Trump “distorted the results of the election” and led his followers to believe that “he had won and that they were being cheated.” Collins also noted his “incredible effort to pressure state election officials” to change the results and therefore subvert the will of American voters.
“Instead of preventing a dangerous situation, President Trump created one,” Collins said. “And rather than defend the constitutional transfer of power, he incited an insurrection with the purpose of preventing the transfer of power from occurring.”
Collins added: “Whether by design or by virtue of a reckless disregard for the consequences of his actions, President Trump, subordinating the interests of the country to his own selfish interests, bears significant responsibility for the invasion of the Capitol.”
Fellow Maine Senator Angus King said Trump bears full responsibility for the attack at the Capitol that left several people dead and far more injured.
“The insurrection at the Capitol would not have happened ‘but for’ Donald Trump’s lies about the election’s legitimacy and his repeated calls for supporters to gather in Washington on January 6,” King said. “For that reason, I voted to convict.”
Like Collins, New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen said in a statement that the Jan. 6 attack — which she referred to as “one of the darkest days in American history” — was not “an unprompted spasm of violence.”
“It was a planned attack by domestic terrorists who were egged on by President Trump’s months-long campaign of lies about voter fraud that he perpetuated in an effort to cling to power and defy the will of the American people,” Shaheen said.
While the House managers made a “clear and compelling” case to convict Trump, she said, the former president’s defense team did not present the evidence necessary to warrant an acquittal.
Shaheen said Trump’s actions “incited an insurrection” and had “deadly consequences.”
“Were it not for the patriotism of those who refused to cower to President Trump’s will and the courage of law enforcement who stood the line on January 6, the fallout would have been catastrophic,” Shaheen said. “What we bore witness to demonstrated both the strength and fragility of our democracy.”
Maggie Hassan, who also represents New Hampshire in the Senate, said as “dangerous as Donald Trump’s actions were” over the course of several months — ultimately culminating in the insurrection — her vote to convict was based on the big picture.
“My vote today was less about holding Trump as an individual accountable than it is about protecting our country from similar threats in the future — at his hands or at the hands of others,” she said.
Hassan said “impeachment is not designed to punish.” Rather, it was included in the Constitution to shield the nation from “abuses of power and tyranny.”
“I voted to protect the America that we know and love — because January 6, 2021 will be our future if we tolerate what the impeachment trial showed was Trump’s concerted campaign to prevent the peaceful transition of power,” Hassan said.
Most disconcerting to Hassan, she said, was not the actions Trump did take, but what he did not do once “he knew the Capitol was being attacked, and his own Vice President — among others — was being threatened.”
“Should there be any doubt that Trump intended to disrupt the certification of votes and encourage the violence that desecrated the Capitol, his decision to allow it to continue for hours should dispel that uncertainty,” Hassan said.
She added: “If he had not intended the violence when it began, his failure to exercise his power to secure the Capitol and protect those inside was itself a violation of his oath of office and merits conviction and disqualification from holding future office.”
Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed said “Donald Trump betrayed our democracy and systematically incited insurrection.”
“While there wasn’t a [two-thirds] majority, I’m grateful to the 7 Republicans who crossed party lines to acknowledge Trump’s wrongdoing,” Reed said.
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