周三，一名孤独的参议员脱离党派，投票支持唐纳德·特朗普总统因一项滥用职权的弹劾指控而被免职。

犹他州共和党参议员米特·罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)是唯一一位脱离自己党派、支持总统对单一条款的定罪的议员，这使他成为美国历史上第一位投票支持弹劾自己党派总统的议员。

“总统的目的是个人的和政治的。因此，总统犯下了骇人听闻的滥用公众信任的罪行，”罗姆尼在一次现场演讲中说，他投票宣布第二篇关于阻挠国会的文章无罪。

“他的所作所为并不完美，不。这是对选举权、国家安全和基本价值观的公然侵犯，”他继续说道。“在选举中舞弊以保住自己的职位，可能是我能想象到的最具侮辱性和破坏性的违背就职誓言的行为。”

罗姆尼充分意识到，他的共和党同事将“强烈反对”他，他将被其他人“强烈谴责”。“我肯定会听到总统和他的支持者的辱骂，”他补充道。

1月29日，参议员米特·罗姆尼(共和党)抵达美国国会大厦，参加在华盛顿特区举行的参议院弹劾审判，并对记者发表讲话

尽管如此，滥用权力和阻挠国会条款的最终统计结果，分别是48-52和47-53，使得特朗普成为美国历史上第三位被宣布弹劾条款不成立的总统。

对特朗普定罪需要三分之二多数票，即67票，考虑到众议院的政治构成，这一结果极其困难。二十名共和党人将需要支持全部45名民主党人，加上与他们一起组成核心小组的两名无党派人士。

在投票前的几个小时里，关于谁——如果有的话——会脱离他们的政党的问题一直悬而未决。A少数众议院民主党人反对弹劾总统尽管他们未能成功阻止文章进入参议院。

最终，一些曾经被认为对特朗普的清白与否举棋不定的参议员，包括拉马尔·亚历山大(共和党)、莉萨·穆尔科斯基(共和党)、苏珊·科林斯(共和党)、道格·琼斯(民主党)。)，乔·曼钦(民主党)和基尔斯顿·西内马(民主党)，选择了与他们各自的政党一起投票。

琼斯说:“证据清楚地证明，总统利用他的职位和美国政府的影响力，为了他个人的政治利益，试图迫使外国政府干涉我们的选举。”他一直等到的那一天才透露自己的立场。

民主党人被期望描述总统的无罪释放是“毫无意义的”因为共和党人挫败了传唤文件和证人的努力包括前国家安全顾问约翰·博尔顿。

一增加数量关于共和党议员我曾说过，特朗普要求一家外国实体调查一家国内政治对手，显示了“非常糟糕的判断”，而且“不恰当”但是他们说，他的行为并没有上升到可以弹劾的程度。

“总统的行为是可耻和错误的。他的个人利益并没有凌驾于这个伟大国家之上，”穆尔科斯基在周二的一次演讲中说。然而，她补充道:“我不能投票定罪。宪法规定了弹劾，但并不是在所有情况下都要求弹劾...选民将在九个月后宣布裁决，我们必须相信他们的判断。”

在总统的长子唐纳德·特朗普和党内其他人建议罗姆尼应该被逐出共和党或者因为他的投票而受到正式惩罚之后，参议院共和党人为第一任期的立法者辩护。尽管他们不同意脱离党派。

多数党党鞭约翰·图恩(共和党)说，尽管罗姆尼支持罢免总统，他仍将是共和党大会中受欢迎的成员。

“我认为他和总统一开始就有一点复杂的关系，”他说。“我不认为这真的有什么变化。我想我们知道这将如何结束。我们一直都知道，不可能让20名共和党人变成67名。”

在他被宣告无罪的前夕，特朗普发表了他的第三次国情咨文。尽管避免使用“弹劾”这个词，民主党人还是把这个夜晚描述为一场带有竞选集会言辞的“右翼真人秀”，而共和党人则支持他发表“里根式”演讲。

不到两个月前，众议院议长南希·佩洛西(加州民主党)领导她的党团通过了弹劾条款。周二晚上，她在众议院发表讲话时，两个华盛顿权力机构之间爆发了明显的紧张关系。这个地址以特朗普拒绝了佩洛西的握手以全世界都可以听到的撕纸结束:加州民主党撕掉一份总统演讲的复印件。

周三上午，佩洛西在一次闭门会议上受到了同事们的起立鼓掌。据屋内的一名民主党助手称，七名弹劾经理也得到了类似的赞扬。

据这位助手说，那天早上她说，“我试着找了一页我能抽出的没有谎言的纸”。“大概过了四分之一的时候，我想，‘你知道，他像卖蛇油的推销员一样卖商品。我们不能让这种情况持续下去。所以，在途中的某个地方，意识到将要发生的事情，我开始以一种可以撕掉的方式堆叠我的文件。"

SENATE VOTES TO ACQUIT DONALD TRUMP IN SPLIT VOTE WITH REPUBLICAN MITT ROMNEY AS SOLE DEFECTOR

Alone senator broke from party ranks Wednesday to vote for President Donald Trump's removal from office on one impeachment charge of abuse of power.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah was the sole lawmaker to break from his party and support the president's conviction on the single article, making him the first senator in the history of the United States to vote for the impeachment of a president from the lawmaker's own party.

"The president's purpose was personal and political. Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust," Romney, who voted to acquit for the second article on obstruction of Congress, said in a floor speech.

"What he did was not perfect, no. It was a flagrant assault under electoral rights, our national security and our fundamental values," continued. "Corrupting an election to keep one's self in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one's oath of office that I can imagine."

Romney was fully aware that his GOP colleagues will "strenuously disapprove" and that he'll be "vehemently denounced" by others. "I'm sure to hear abuse from the president and his supporters," he added.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) speaks to reporters upon arrival to the U.S. Capitol for the Senate impeachment trial on January 29 in Washington, D.C.

Still, the final tallies for the abuse of power and obstruction of Congress articles, 48-52 and 47-53, respectively, made Trump the third president in American history to be acquitted of articles of impeachment.

A two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, was required to convict Trump, an outcome that was exponentially difficult, given the political makeup of the chamber. Twenty Republicans would have needed to side with all 45 Democrats, plus the two Independents who caucus with them.

In the hours leading up to the vote, questions lingered over who—if any—senators would break from their party. A handful of House Democrats opposed the president's impeachment, though they were unsuccessful in preventing the articles from advancing to the Senate.

Ultimately, some of the senators who were once considered toss-ups on Trump's innocence or guilt, which consisted of Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), chose to vote with their respective party.

"The evidence clearly proves that the president used the weight of his office and the weight of the united states government to seek to coerce a foreign government to interfere in our election for his personal political benefit," Jones said, who waited until the day of to reveal his stance.

Democrats are expected to characterize the president's acquittal as "meaningless," since Republicans defeated their effort to subpoena documents and witnesses, including former national security adviser John Bolton.

An increasing number of GOP lawmakers have said that Trump's request of a foreign entity to investigate a domestic political rival displayed "very poor judgment" and was "inappropriate." But his actions, they said, did not elevate to the level of impeachable conduct.

"The president's behavior was shameful and wrong. His personal interests do not take precedence over this of this great nation," Murkowski said in a floor speech Tuesday. However, she added: "I cannot vote to convict. The constitution provides for impeachment but does not demand it in all instances... The voters will pronounce a verdict in nine months, and we must trust their judgment."

After suggestions by Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, and others within the party that Romney should be expelled from the GOP or formally punished for his vote, Senate Republicans came to the first-term lawmaker's defense. This despite their disagreement to break from party ranks.

Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said despite Romney's support to oust the president, he would remain a welcomed member of the Republican Conference.

"I think he and the president had a little bit of a complicated relationship to start with," he said. "I don't think it really changes much. I think we knew how this is going to end. We knew all along that it wasn't going to get 20 Republicans to get to 67."

On the eve of his acquittal, Trump delivered his third State of the Union address. Although avoiding the word "impeachment," Democrats characterized the night as a "right-wing reality show" with campaign rally rhetoric, while Republicans championed him for delivering a "Reaganesque" speech.

Delivering his remarks from the House floor Tuesday night, where less than two months ago Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) led her caucus to pass the impeachment articles, obvious tensions flared between the two Washington powerhouses. The address opened with Trump snubbing a handshake offered by Pelosi and concluded with the tearing of paper that was heard around the world: the California Democrat tore up a copy of the president's speech.

Pelosi received a standing ovation from her colleagues during a closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday morning. The seven impeachment managers also received similar praise, according to a Democratic aide inside the room.

"I tried to find one page I could spare that didn't have a lie on it," she said that morning, according to the aide. "About a quarter through it, I thought, 'You know, he's selling a bill of goods like a snake oil salesman. We cannot let this stand.' So, somewhere along the way, realizing what was coming, I started to stack my papers in a way that were tear-able."