Impeachment vote. I am martha maccallum. I am bret baier, Just Moments Away returning the verdict in President Trumps impeachment trial. Senators will castro two votes. One for each article of impeachment. The first abuse of power, and obstruction of congress. Guilty or not guilty, for a look at how this will play out, lets turn to Congressional Correspondent chad pergram on capitol hill. Good afternoon, chad. For only the third time in u. S. History, the senate will vote to determine the guilt or innocence of a u. S. President. There have been a total of impeachment 20impeachments, s and removals, that will not happen today. In the past several moments we have gotten the news that joe manchin, democratic senator from West Virginia will vote to convict, and the senator from arizona will vote to convict as well paired here are the mechanics. When i come back into session, they will go through each article of impeachment, the senators will be called alphabetically. They will rise from the desk and vote guilty, not guilty, then they will tabulate. It takes 67 votes, if you go back to 1999 with president clinton, there were 45 guilty votes on one article of impeachment, 50 on the other. This is the most consequential vote for a u. S. Senator in their career. And it is an election year. This is the most consequential vote of this year. The capital is still buzzing about the news regarding mitt romney. At the republican from utah saying he would convict on one article, i spoke just a few moments ago with adam schiff, the lead impeachment leader about his decision, he told me that showed a great moral courage. Back to you. Bret as we wait for the final votes, lets bring in our panel, chris wallace, anchor of Fox News Sunday. And mollie hemingway, senior at editor at the federalists. Dear interview made quite a stir in. It did. We were asked yesterday would we like to do the only interview with the senator, they did not say outright, but it was pretty clear that he would convict on one of the two articles. We sat down at 11 30 this morning until he formally announced it. What struck me was that it turned very serious very fast. And the gravity of his decision, and the real torment, if you will that he went through, he had not slept past four in the morning for the past three weeks, that he did not want to take this vote, that he could get some more information so he could find a way around this vote, but his conscience, his faith, this is the only decision he could make to convict on the abuse of power. Bret lets play a short clip from the interview if we can. You realize this is war. Donald trump will never forgive you for this. There is a him in my church, an old protestant him, do what is right, let the consequence followed. I know in my heart i am doing what is right. I understand that there will be an enormous consequence. And i dont have a choice in that regard. Thats why i have not, i have been anxious to be in the position i am in. When i heard that there was going to be an impeachment of an investigation as i heard the evidence coming forward, i dreaded the responsibility i would have. But i was not willing to advocate the responsibility given to me by the constitution. Nor to ignore my conscience out of personal and political significance. Considerations, i had to follow my conscience. Martha here we go, to the house of representatives where they are beginning the publication. As a reminder to everyone inn the chamber as well as those in the gallery, demonstrations of approval or disapproval are prohibited. The majority majority leader is recognized. The senate is now ready to vote on the articles of impeachment, and after that is done, we will adjourn the court of impeachment. The clerk will now read the first article of impeachment. Article 1, abuse of power. The constitution provides that the house of representatives shall have the full power of impeachment. And that the President Shall be removed from Office Impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. And his conduct of the office of president of the United States and in violation of his constitutional oath they execute the office of president of the United States and to the best of his ability preserve, protect, and observe the constitution of the United States and in violation with his constitutional duty to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. Donald j. Trump has abuse the powers of the presidency in that using the powers of his high office, President Trump solicited the interference of a Foreign Government ukraine in the 2020 United States president ial election. He did so through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the government of ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his reelection, harm the election prospects of a political opponent and influence the 2020 president ial election to his advantage. President trump also sought to pressure the ukraine, to take the acts of significant value to ukraine on the public announcement of investigations. President trump engaged in the scheme over course of conduct for personal benefit. In doing so, President Trump use the powers of the presidency in a manner that compromised National Security of the United States and undermined the integrity of the democratic process. He also ignored and injured the interest of the nation. President trump engaged in the scheme of course of conduct through the following means. One, President Trump acting both directly and through his agents within and outside the United States government corruptly solicited the governor of ukraine to publicly announce investigations into, a political opponent, former Vice President Joseph R Biden jr. , md, a credited disinterest to russia, that ukraine interfere in the president ial election. A 2, with the same corrupt motives, President Trump acting both directly and through his agents within the out United States government condition two official acts on the public announcements that he had requested. A come of the of 300 million of United States taxpayer funds that congress had appropriated on a bipartisan purpose of providing military and Security Assistance to the ukraine to oppose russian aggression in which President Trump had ordered suspended. And be, a head of state meeting at the white house that the president of ukraine sought to demonstrate continued United States support for the governor of ukraine in the face of russian aggression. Three, faced with the public aggression of his actions, President Trump released the military and Security Assistance to the governor of ukraine and d corruptly urging and assisting ukraine to undertake investigations for his personal political benefit. These actions were consistent with President Trumps previous information of foreign interference, the United States election. In all of this, President Trumps abuse of powers by ignoring National Security and other national interest, other personal benefit. Also betrayed the nation by abusing his office to enlist a foreign power in corrupting democratic elections. Therefore President Trump i had that conduct has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to National Security and the constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with selfgovernance and the rule of law. President trump warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States. Each senator when his or her name is called will stand in his or her place and vote guilty or not guilty as required by rule 23 of the senate rules on impeachment. Article 1 ssectionsign 3 claud vote for conviction on impeachment provides that no person shall be convicted without the occurrence of twothirds of the members present. The question is on the first article of impeachment. The senators, how say you . Is the respondent Donald John Trump guilty or not guilty. A roll call vote is required. The clerk will call the roll. Mr. Alexander . Not guilty. Mr. Alexander, not guilty. Ms. Baldwin. Guilty. A miss baldwin guilty. Mr. Barrasso, not guilty. Mr. Bennett . Mr. Bennett guilty. Mrs. Blackburn . Mrs. Blackburn not guilty. Mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Blumenthal guilty. Mr. Blunt . Mr. Blunt not guilty. Mr. Booker . Mr. Booker guilty. Mr. Baozun. Mr. Bozeman . Mr. Bozeman not guilty. Mr. Braun . Not guilty. Mr. Brown . Guilty. Mr. Burke . Mr. Byrne not guilty. Ms. Cantwell . Mrs. O . Not guilty. Mr. Cardin . Guilty. Mr. Carper, guilty. Mr. Casey . Mr. Casey, guilty. Mr. Cassidy . Mr. Cassidy, not guilty. Mr. Collins . Ms. Collins, not guilty. Mr. Mr. Mark mr. Guilty. Mr. Cornyn . Mr. Cornyn, not guilty. Mr. Cotton . Mr. Cotton not guilty. Mr. Kramer . Mr. Kramer not guilty. Mr. . Mr. Not guilty. Mr. Cruz . Mr. Cruz did not guilty mr. Daines . Mr. Daines not guilty. Miss duckworth . Miss duckworth guilty. Mr. Durbin . Mr. Durbin guilty. Mr. Enzi . Mr. Enzi not guilty. Mr. Ernst . Mr. Ernst, not guilty. Mrs. Feinstein . Mrs. Feinstein guilty. Mrs. Fisher . Mrs. Fisher not guilty. Mr. Gardner . Mr. Gardner not guilty. Mrs. Gillibrand . Mrs. Gillibrand, guilty. Mr. Graham . Mr. Graham, not guilty. Mr. Grassley . Mr. Grassley, not guilty. Ms. Harris . Ms. Harris, guilty. Ms. Hassan . Ms. Hassan, guilty. Mr. Holly . Mr. Holly, not guilty. Mr. Heinrich . Mr. Heinrich, guilty. Ms. Hirano . Mr. Ronald, guilty guilty. Misses high and smith not guil guilty. Mr. Johnson . Mr. Johnson, not guilty. Mr. Jones . Mr. Jones, guilty. Mr. Kane . Mr. Kane, guilty. Mr. Kennedy . Mr. Kennedy, not guilty. Mr. King . Mr. King, guilty. Ms. Clover chart . Ms. Clover chart guilty. Mr. Lankford, not guilty. Mr. Lahey . Mr. Lahey, guilty. Mr. Lee . Mr. Lee, not guilty. Mr. Mansion . Mr. Mansion, guilty. Mr. Markey, guilty. Mr. Mcconnell . Mr. My carnal mcconnell guilty. Miss mick sally not guilty. Mr. Menendez, mr. Menendez, guilty. Mr. Merkley . Mr. Merkley, guilty. Mr. Moran . Mr. Moran not guilty, miss murkowski . Ms. Murkowski, not guilty. Mr. Murphy . Mr. Murphy, guilty. Mrs. Murray, guilty. Mr. Paul . Mr. Paul, not guilty. Mr. Purdue . Mr. Purdue not guilty. Mr. Peters . Mr. Peters guilty. Mr. Portland . Mr. Portman, not guilty. Mr. Reed . Mr. Reed, guilty. Mr. Risch . Mr. Risch, not guilty. Mr. Roberts . Mr. Roberts, not guilty. Mr. Romney . Mr. Romney, guilty. Ms. Rosen . Ms. Rosen, guilty. Mr. Rounds . Mr. Rounds, not guilty. Mr. Rubio . Mr. Rubio not guilty. Mr. Sanders . Mr. Sanders, guilty. Mr. Sass . Mr. Sass, not guilty. Mr. Schumer . Mr. Schumer, guilty . Mr. Scott of florida . Mr. Scott of florida, not guilty. Mr. Scott of South Carolina . Mr. Scott of South Carolina, not guilty. Mr. Shaheen . Mrs. Shaheen, guilty. Mr. Shelby . Mr. Shall be not guilty. Ms. Cinema . Ms. Cinema, guilty. Ms. Smith . Ms. Smith, guilty. Misstep now, guilty. Esther sullivan . Mr. Sullivan, not guilty. Mr. Tester . Mr. Tester, guilty. Mr. Thune . Not guilty. Mr. Tillis . Mr. Tillis, not guilty. Mr. Toomey . Not guilty. Mr. Udall . Guilty. Esther van holland . Guilty. Ms. Warren . Ms. Warren, guilty. Mr. White house . Mr. White house, guilty. Mr. Wicker . Not guilty. Mr. Wyden . Mr. Wyden, guilty. Mr. Young, not guilty. Bret 52 not guilty, 48 guilty, they do not get to 67, so this is a vote to acquit. The president of the United States on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power. The clerk will read out in the numbers, the Supreme Court justice, chief Justice John Roberts will say the president is acquitted of article one, abuse of power, and they will move on to article two. This does not usually happen, senators sitting at a desk, getting up, saying guilty, not guilty, you just saw one of the most powerful votes in the u. S. Senate, a senator ever can make, and now article one is acquittal, listen in. This article of impeachment 48 senators have pronounced Donald John Trump, president of the United States guilty as charged. 52 senators have pronounced him not guilty as charged. Twothirds of the senators present not pronounced him guilty, the senate of judges that are respondent Donald John Trump, president of the United States is not guilty as charged in the first article of impeachment. The clerk will read the second article of impeachment. Article 2, obstruction of congress. The constitution provides that the house of representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment and that the President Shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. In his conduct of the office of the president of the United States and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully executing the office of president of the United States and to the best of his ability to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States and in violation of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, donald j. Trump has directed the unprecedented categorical and indiscriminate defiance of subpoenas issued by the house of representatives pursuant to its sole power of impeachment. President trump has abuse the powers of the presidency in a manner of offense two and sub verse of the constitution in that the house of representatives has engaged in an impeachment inquiry focused on President Trumps corrupt solicitation of the government of ukraine to interfere in the 2020 United States president ial election. As part of this impeachment inquiry, the committees undertaking the investigation served subpoenas seeking doxxeds document and testimony from the various executive Branch Agencies and offices and current and former officials. In response without lawful cause or excuse, President Trump directed agencies, offices, and officials not to comply with those subpoenas. President trump thus interfered with the powers of the presidency against the lawful subpoenas against the house of representatives and assumed to himself and judgments necessary to the exercise of the sole power of impeachment invested by the constitution and the house of representatives. President trump abuse the powers of his high office to the following means. One, directing the white house to defy a lawful subpoena by withholding the production of documents sought by the committees. Two, directing other executive branches and offices to deny subpoenas and withhold the documents and records from the committee is in response t to Te Department of state, office of management and budget, department of energy and department of defense refused to produce a single document or record. Three, directing current and former Branch Officials not to cooperate with the committees in response to which Nine Administration officials denied subpoenas for testimony. Namely John Michael Mick mulvaney, robert b blair, michael ellis, kristen wells griffith, russell t voss, michael duffy, Brian Mccormic mccormick, and these actions were consistent with the previous records to undermine United States government in investigations into foreign interference in United States elections. Through these actions, President Trump sought to irrigate himself the right to determine the proprieties, scope, and impeachment inquiry into his own conduct as well as the universality unilateral prerogative to deny any and all information to the house of representatives in the exercise of its sole power of impeachment. In the history of the republic, no president has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry, or sought to impede so comprehensively the ability of the house of representatives to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors. This abuse of office serve to cover up the president s own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment and nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested solely in the house of representatives. In all of this, President Trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as president and subversive of the Constitutional Government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice into th the dash manifest injury to the people of the United States. Wherefore President Trump has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with selfgovernance and the rule of law. President trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States. The question is on the second article of impeachment. Senators, how say you . Is the respondent Donald John Trump guilty or not guilty . The clerk will call the roll. Mr. Alexander . Not guilty. Ms. Baldwin . Guilty. Mr. Barrasso . Not guilty. Mr. Bennett . Guilty. Mrs. Blackburn . Not guilty. Mr. Blumenthal . Guilty. Mr. Blunt . Not guilty. Mr. Booker . Guilty. Mr. Bozeman . Not guilty. Mr. Braun . Not guilty. Mr. Brown . Guilty. Mr. Burr . Not guilty. Ms. Cantwell . Guilty. Mrs. L . Not guilty. Mr. Cardin . Guilty. Mr. Carper . Guilty. Mr. Casey . Guilty. Mr. Cassidy . Not guilty. Ms. Collins . Not guilty. Mr. Coon . Guilty. Mr. Corn in not guilty. Mr. Cotton . Not guilty. Mr. Cramer . Not guilty. Mr. . Not guilty. Mr. Cruz . Not guilty. Mr. Daines . Not guilty. Ms. Duckworth . Guilty. Mr. Durbin . Guilty. Mr. Enzi . Not guilty. Ms. Ernst . Not guilty. Mrs. Feinstein . Guilty. Mrs. Fisher . Not guilty. Mr. Gardner . Not guilty. Mrs. Gillibrand . Guilty. Mr. Graham . Not guilty. Mr. Grassley . Not guilty. Ms. Harris . Guilty. Ms. Has an . Guilty. Mr. Hawley . Not guilty. Mr. Heinrich . Guilty. Ms. Hirono . Guilty. Mr. Conan . Not guilty. Misses high and smith . Not guilty. Mr. And half . Not guilty. Mr. Johnson . Not guilty. Mr. Junes . Guilty. Mr. Kane . Guilty. Mr. Kennedy . Not guilty. Mr. King . Guilty. Ms. Klobuchar . Guilty. Mr. Langford . Not guilty. Mr. Lahey . Guilty. Mr. Lee . Not guilty. Mrs. Leffler . Not guilty. Mr. Manchin, not guilty. Mr. Mcconnell . Not guilty. Ms. Mick sally . Not guilty. Mr. Menendez . Guilty. Mr. Merkley . Guilty. Mr. Moran . Not guilty. Ms. Murkowski . Not guilty. Mr. Murphy . Guilty. Mrs. Murray . Guilty. Mr. Paul . Not guilty. Mr. Purdue . Not guilty. Mr. Peters . Guilty. Mr. Portman . Not guilty. Mr. Reed . Guilty. Mr. Risch . Not guilty. Mr. Roberts . Not guilty. Mr. Romney . Not guilty. Ms. Rosen . Guilty. Mr. Rounds . Not guilty. Mr. Rubio . Not guilty. Mr. Sanders . Guilty. Mr. Sasse . Not guilty. Mr. Schatz . Guilty. Mr. Schumer . Guilty. Mr. Scott of florida . Not guilty. Mr. Scott of South Carolina . Not guilty. Mrs. Shaheen . Guilty. Mr. Shelby. Not guilty. Ms. Sinema . Guilty. Ms. Smith . Guilty. Misstep now . Guilty. Mr. Sullivan . Not guilty. Mr. Tester . Guilty. Mr. Thune . Not guilty. Mr. Tillis . Not guilty. Mr. Toomey . Not guilty. Mr. Udall . Guilty. Mr. Van holland . Guilty. Mr. Warner . Guilty. Ms. Warren . Guilty. Mr. White house . Guilty. Mr. Wicker . Not guilty. Mr. Wyden . Guilty. Mr. Young . Not guilty. Martha there you have it, on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of congress, the vote is 47 guilty, 53 not guilty. On that vote as we watch this play out, obviously the obstruction of congress charge was largely leveled at a lack of cooperation from the white house on witnesses they wanted to bring in to be part of this investigation on the house side. And now the senators have stood at their desks and voted 57 5743 5347 not guilty on the floor of the senate in the case of donald trump. Lets listen to the Supreme Court justice. Donald john trump guilty as charged, 53 senators have pronounced him not guilty as charged. Twothirds of the senators present for not having pronounced him guilty, the senate of judges that responded Donald John Trump, president of the United States is not guilty as charged in the second article of impeachment. The presiding officer directs judgment to be entered in accordance with the senate as follows. The senate having tried Donald John Trump, president and the United States upon two articles of impeachment exhibited against him by the house of representatives and two thirds of the senators present not finding him guilty therein, it is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said Donald John Trump be and is hereby acquitted of the charges instead articles. The majority leader is recognized. I send an order to the desk. The clerk will report. Order that the secretary be directed to communicate to the secretary of state as provided by rule 23 of the rules of procedure and practice in the senate when sitting on impeachment trials, and also to the house of representatives the judgment of the senate in the case of Donald John Trump and transmit a Certified Copy of the judgment to each. Without objection, the order will be entered. Mr. Chief justice . The majority leader is recognize. Before this process fully concludes, i want to very quickly acknowledge a few of the people who help to senate fulfill our duty these past weeks. First and foremost, i know my colleagues joined me in thinking chief Justice Roberts for presiding over the senate trial with a clear head, steady hand, and the forbearance at this rare occasion commence. [applause] we know full well that his presence as our presiding officer came in addition to, not instead of the day job across the street. So the Senate Thanks the chief justice and his staff to help perform this unique role. Like his predecessor, chief justice rehnquist, the senate will award chief Justice Roberts the golden gavel to commemorate his time residing over this body, we typically award this to new senators after 100 hours in the chair, but we can agree that the chief justice has put in his due and then some. The page is delivering the gav gavel. Thank you very much. Of course there are countless senate professionals who were proficient. I have more facts to offer next week. The secretary of the senates office to the sergeant at arms team and beyond. But there are two more groups i would like to single out now. First the two different classes of senate pages who participated in this trial, their footwork and cool under pressure literally kept the floor running. Our current class came on board right in the middle of the third president ial impeachment trial in american history. And quickly found themselves hand delivering 180 question cards from senators desks to the dais. No pressure, right, guys . So thank you all very much for your good work. [applause] and second, the fine men and women of the Capitol Police, we know that the safety of our democracy rests in their hands every single day, the heightened measures have surrounding the trial meant even more hours and even more work and even more vigilance, thank you very much for your servants at this body and the country. [applause] chair recognizes the democratic leader. I join the republican leader in thanking the personnel who aided the senate over the past several weeks. Capitol police do an outstanding job day in and day out to protect and the members of this chamber, the staff, the press, and everyone who works in and visits this capital. They were asked to work extra shifts and in greater numbers to provide additional security over the past three weeks, thank you to everyone of them . I too would like to thank those wonderful pages. I so much enjoyed you with your serious faces walking down right here and giving the chief justice are questions. As the leader noted, the new class of pages started midway in this impeachment trial. When you take a new job, you are usually given a few days to take stock of things and get up to speed, this class was given no such leeway, but they stepped right in and did not miss a be beat. Carrying hundreds of questions to the chief justice on National Television is not how most of us spend our first week at work, but they did it with aplomb. I would also like to extend my personal thank you to the director of the office of accessibility services, the supervisor and grace wage rate, the wonderful director of capital facilities. Everyone graces team worked so hard to make sure that we were ready for impeachment. Gary richardson, known affectionately to us as tiny, the chief chamber attendant. Jim hoover and the cabinet shop who built new cabinets to deprive us of the use of our electronics and flip phones during the trial. Brenda byrd and her team did a spectacular job in keeping the capital clean and moving the furniture and then moved it again, and again and again. Grace, we appreciate all of your hard work, please convey our sincerest thanks to your staff. Thank you all. The whole staff for your diligent work through many long days and late nights during this very trying time in our nations history. The chair also wishes to make a very brief statement. I would like to begin by thanking the majority leader in the democratic leader for their support as i attempted to carry out illdefined responsibility is in setting. They ensured that i had the wise counsel of the senate itself through its secretary and her legislative staff. I am especially grateful to the parliamentarian and her deputy for their unfeeling patients and keen insight. I am likewise grateful to the sergeant at arms and his staff for the assistance and many courtesies that they extended during my period of required residency. And thank you all for making my presence here as comfortable as possible. As i depart the chamber, i do so with a visitation to visit the court by long tradition and in memory of the 135 years we sat in this building, we keep the front row of the gallery in our court room open for members of congress who might want to drop by to see an argument. Or to escape one. I also depart with sincere good wishes as we carry out our common commitment to the constitution assigned to us by that charter. You have been generous hosts, and i look forward to seeing you again under happier circumstances. The chair recognizes the majority leader. I moved at the Senate Sitting at the court of impeachment on the articles against Donald John Trump adjourned her to the Senate Sitting as court of impeachment stands adjourned. Speak to the impeachment trial is over, donald j. Trump will remain in office, he is now equated. The second vote, mitt romney voted not guilty on the second article of impeachment changing the overall vote, but the bottom line is that this is over and we are moving on. If you think about it, it all started 84 days ago, novembe november 13, 2019 with the first public House Committee hearing which we all brought you here on fox news channel, and now 84 days later, it ends with the acquittal of President Trump. Lets bring in our panel, chris wallace, anchor of Fox News Sunday byron york, and mollie hemingway, Senior Editor at the federalists. Martha chris, let me start with you. It strikes me that it really began at least in terms of what the Public Knowledge was with that phone call in july between the president of the United States and president zelensky, and that came just 24 hours after the mueller chapter was closed. And here we have tonight another chapter closing in terms of investigation of the president and you have to wonder, what comes next . And hope that we get a period of a bit of peace in some ways of regular order. I want to talk about these in regular order. I found that the comments from the majority leader and the democratic leader thinking the pages and the Capitol Police and the chief justice, giving him a golden gavel, oddly comforting, because it is the way things are supposed to work. Everybody acted gracefully and graciously, and it was such a contrast to what we saw last night in the state of the union address. And you do hope exactly as you say, for some peace and quiet and regular order, even news man i think are hoping for that. In terms of what we saw there with the roll call, there was a gravity to it. We knew it the result was going to be, but to hear the senators get up, not saying yeas and na nays, but guilty and not guilty. It is a pretty brave new moment. As far as the political impact, i think you have to say that donald trump is better off now than he was when the impeachment process began. He has had a number of bipartisan successes on trade deals, the economy is rolling along. The gallup poll just came out. It is the highest he has had in this presidency. 49 , but we cannot forget, it is a 50 50 bitterly divided nation, as we saw last night with the speaker ripping up the president s state of the union speech in a bitter divide over issues, maybe well get some peace and quiet, but this will be a tough bitterly fought campaign. Bret mollie, despite everything, when the chief justice said he enjoyed that moment, it was a different place for him, there was one question obviously from senator elizabeth warren, chief Justice Roberts impartiality, but besides that, he sat there over presiding pretty much staying in the background as much as he could. That is kind of what i thought to Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnells remarks before they began voting were so interesting. He began the process by saying that the senate was made for times like this. Merely an article 1 enthusiast, he believes that there is a reason that congress is the first branch, mentioned in the constitution and even beyond that, he is a senate imperialists. He wanted people to know that even as things are crazy elsewhere in the world, the senate exist to keep the fevers at bay. And institutions must break the fever rather than fevers breaking the institution. And he brought into that how people who are opposed to the results of the 2016 election werent just going after President Trump, but they had also been threatening the courts and other institutions as well. That message really came through. We already knew that donald trump would not be removed from office. There was no way they would get as many republicans as they needed to switch sides. I dont think they knew they would get a majority of senators to vote that donald trump was not guilty of either of the charges brought against him. That was interesting to see that they were able to keep so many people together. But i think what Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell wanted to do was show the beauty of the senate, and i think he is probably pretty pleased at that. This has been the subject over so much discussion over several months, speculation on what would happen. And now that it is over, we can conclude that some things did not happen. There was a lot of talk that some republicans might break ranks with the president. And one republican senator on one count, mitt romney on abuse of power, that just did not happen. There was speculation that john roberts would be more of an activist presiding officer in the senate, maybe he would order that witnesses be held before the senate. That did not happen. He did not do anything really, he was basically modeling his performance on what chief justice did in the bill clinton trial in 1999. There was speculation that the trial would stretch out for months and months and months. That did not happen. And there was a speculation including for me that there will be a lot of surprises other than john bolton, we did not see a lot. Martha thank you, panel, that includes the special coverage. Bret i am bret baier, stay tuned to this fox station for continuing coverage of the story. We are going to go to Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell at the microphones here on fox news channel. Lets listen in. Over the years our leadership positions have overlapped, and even before then we were working together on an appropriation bill back in the early days. Im pretty sure she did not want to do this. But the fact that she was pulled into this direction against what appeared to be political instincts a year ago underscores that this is a purely political exercise. Now having been dragged into something she instinctively felt was a mistake, the second impulse was, lets get this over with as quickly as possible. Get her out of here, get it over to the other body, and let them deal with it. Thats why you had an abbreviated truncated rush job over in the house, but even during that abbreviated period, it was pretty clear that they amassed a significant body of evidence from witnesses, which you heard them argue about over here frequently. They provided with us in the house record testimony from 13 witnesses, deposition from 17 witnesses, then of course we had added on top of that 180 questions that we would witness 193 witness clips, and 28,000 pages of evidence. Asked my staff to count up the number of times that we heard from the house managers during their presentation. How many times it was already proven. There were 60 times, 60 in which house managers said during their presentation to us that the case was either proven or approved. 60 times. There were 33 more times when one or more of the house manager said the evidence was overwhelming. So where did the nonsense about witnesses come from . I have a pretty good idea. After this thoroughly political exercise left the house and came over to the clinic claim accented, there was a lot of poll data taken, how will we sell this to senators . How will we sell this to the American People . Even though we have all of this testimony and all of these witnesses, what polls well . Of course if you ask the citizen what should be a witness in a trial . You should get an answer that you want. So the speaker, i gathered, decided to sit on the impeachment papers after arguing that this is a matter of right urgency that the president needs to be removed from office as soon as possible. To sit on for a month to laughably think that that somehow gave me leverage to concede their political argument which was that this was all about witnesses over here on our side. Well, that brought one of those rare smiles to my face, which he witnessed and which i was perplexed by the strategy that was being employed. Finally when it became obvious to everyone that it was an absurd position, the senators were saying why dont you send the papers over, some of our members were saying it before they got back in line. The papers came over, and we knew full well this would be about witnesses. I had said to my colleagues back in december in anticipation of the impeachment that their strategy would be to get it out of the house quickly and dont leave it in the senate endlessly. So that we would have that wrapped around our axle indefinitely. My suspicion was that it was not so much about President Trump, but rather about taking the senate. And my counter part senator schumer admitted to you that thats what this was all about. It was about taking the senate and about trying to bog us down, and about trying to get my guys to have a lot of tough votes. So i am proud of my colleagues first seeing through that for knowing that even though if you ask a typical voter, should there be witnesses and a trial, they will say, sure. There should be witnesses. Then it was about coming out the president , we knew that he would not be removed from office, but about trying to take the senate. So i am proud of my members for resisting the temptation. In preventing what the second strategy was pretty clear that the democrats were trying to drag him into the maelstrom. And the way that couldve been done was with a 50 50 vote where he wouldve been accused, had he chosen not to rule, which of course, i cannot imagine he would have, but pretty clear that that would have dragged to the Supreme Court right into the middle of the maelstrom as well. So we have reached the conclusion. This is a thoroughly political exercise from the beginning to the end. And the final irony of it all is the speaker was right in the beginning. Because here we are today looking at the political impact of this. About politics, how did it and about politics . The president has his highest Approval Rating since he has been in office. I can tell you as a poll watcher who is looking at polls in Certain Senate races, every one of our people in tough races, every one of them is in better shape today than they were before the impeachment trial started. Im not sitting here predicting what will be the Biggest Issue in november, but i will tell you this, right now this is a political loser for them. They initiated it, they thought this was a great idea, and at least for the short term, it has been a colossal political mistake. Reporter several of your members have commented on conduct of what murkowski said. One of them saying that he would vote to convict, mitt romney did, why is it okay to ask another foreign country to investigate a political rival . I have been responding to you for years, and you know that what i am here to talk about today is the political impact of this. We have completed it, we have listened to the arguments, we have voted and it is in the rearview mirror. And i think what is appropriate now is the way that it all began for political reasons, the political impact of it. And i think that it is pretty clear what ive already said where we are right now. Reporter is there room in the Republican Party for someone who votes for the president s conviction . I was surprised and disappointed, but i still think that we had a great amount of teamwork on this. And i think we are in a good position going into the senate races. And the president ial race with regard to this issue. There may be plenty of other issues between now and november. But we are pretty good shape n now. Talking about the next steps, is there a serious political price to pay if they dont move on after impeachment . Well, you know, i have watched these impeachments over of these over the years on both sides, i really think the American People are more likely to focus at this point, and for the rest of the year on what kind of shape is a country in . How are you feeling about things . Are you better off as president reagan put it . Are you better off now then you were four years ago . I think the investigations will go on. Thats what congress does. We have done it when we were in the majority and there was a democratic president. They have done it. I would not expect that to stop. I think in the end it is not likely to have much of an impact on any of the races. The president ial or senate race. Reporter and following up on the question there, is there any chance that mitt romney can excel as a result of his vote to condemn . I was surprised and disappointed, but we have much work to do for the American People, and i think senator mitt romney has been largely supportive of everything we try to accomplish. Reporter why the reluctance Mitch Mcconnell wrapping things up in the news conference, talking about nancy pelosi how they Work Together for such a long time. A saying that he believed she went against her good political instincts in this instance. Pursuing impeachment and tried to rush it over to their chamber pointing out what he sees as a political errors along the way that led to perhaps what we saw in this vote today. Bret we wondered if we would hear from the president today, we have not heard anything specifically, but we have seen the tweet in which the president tweeted a link to, looks like an ad, but it is trump 2020, 2024, 2028, and then 2028 into infinity. That is the first reaction from the president of the United States getting acquitted, and to staying in office. Very quickly, a final thought, chris. Well, that does raise the one question, which is can President Trump stand success . We have seen how tough and resilient he is in dealing with difficulty, but remember the call to president zelensky on july 25th was 24 hours after basically the whole mueller case fell apart. So we will have to wait and see how he does with success. They say history is written by the winners produce all Mitch Mcconnell who said the president was at his highest rating ever. He says all of the republican senators seeking reelection work and better spots than they were before impeachment. For nancy pelosi, she was right in the first case, dont bring impeachment if there is not bipartisan sentiment. That is the verdict as of today. The question is what democrats do next. They put so much faith and using investigations into the president , they spent two years hoping that the russia investigation would result in an impeachment only to see it fizzle out to last summer. And a lot of republicans breathed a sigh of relief at that time and by the time they woke up the next morning, it was all about ukraine. Now it is impeachment and they have failed to remove the president there. The question is will they continue with the investigations through november or just give up and basically try winning on policy . Bret we have some points on the board. We have the decision about the white house chief of staff don mcgann, whether he will testify. You have a Supreme Court decision on the taxes at the end of march, so i would bet the latter if i were betting. I dont think the resistance most. We have seen that there has been, does not matter what the issue is, they will keep going. It will be interesting to see what the next thing will be. But people have to deal with the reality that President Trump has come out of this stronger than he was before and not only are his Approval Ratings as high as they have been in his presidency, but the first time that the Republican Party in general has had a majority approval in a really long time. Bret thank you, panel. Martha concluding the special coverage of the Senate Impeachment trial vote. I will see you on the story. Bret i will have you covered at 6 00 p. M. The events on special report. A full weekend ahead in new hampshire, remember that . And we might have iowa too. The five is next. The five is next. Greg hi, im greg gutfeld, jesse watters, dana perino, juan williams, the five. Well, thats over with. For now. So youve heard the definition of crazy, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result . The democrats invented a new kind of crazy, knowing the outcome of an event well in advance and still expecting a different result. That is impeachment. The worst planned adventure since the donner party. The dems blew all their energy on the losers
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