Senators voted 57-43 on whether to convict Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors for “willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States.”
Every Democrat voted to find him “guilty,” the question technically before the Senate, and they were joined by seven GOP senators falling short of the necessary 67 votes, or two-thirds majority, needed for conviction.
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The vote comes roughly five weeks after the attack on Jan. 6, when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the counting of President Biden
The aftermath of the attack is still visible around the Capitol, where a fenced perimeter surrounds Capitol Hill and National Guard troops remain stationed around the complex.
Raskin said the deposition could happen remotely by Zoom and that Democrats would request an hour or less of her time.
The idea was immediately rejected by Michael van der Veen, one of Trump s defense attorneys, who said he d need more than 100 new witnesses to thoroughly investigate the circumstances in question thoroughly.
He called on senators to reject the call for new evidence, accusing Democrats of trampling on Trump s right to due process. The single article of impeachment, he added, is for incitement of insurrection and therefore the Senate jurors should ignore anything Trump did after the attack as immaterial to the case.
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Blumenthal told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell during an interview Friday evening that this response from Trump’s team was both “shocking” and “deeply offensive.”
“It was an insult to all of our intelligence, and smart people like Senators Collins and Murkowski, I’m sure, were offended by it,” the Democratic senator added.
“But it goes to a larger failing in this defense,” Blumenthal continued. “They are assuming that the fix is in. They are sure they have 17 senators who won’t part ways. And I think the other really striking feature of this case is how close, how very close, we came to even greater disaster, how much worse it could have been.”
Pence s name has been invoked repeatedly during the proceedings this week. The then-vice president was escorted out of the Senate chamber on Jan. 6 as pro-Trump rioters stormed the complex, and the timeline of events has left unanswered questions about when the former president knew Pence was in danger and what, if anything, he did to intervene.
As the Senate mulls how to proceed, Pence has become something akin to what former national security adviser John Bolton
ADVERTISEMENT I can t imagine him getting anywhere near this trial, one source close to the former vice president said.
The source also suggested it was unlikely Pence would incriminate Trump if he did come forward. The relationship between the two men soured in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, but Pence was unflinchingly loyal for four years before that and still has aspirations of running for president in 2024.