在起义军于1月6日在国会大厦煽动暴乱整整一个月零一周之后，前总统唐纳德·特朗普s秒弹劾周六下午，审判达到高潮，特朗普因涉嫌煽动这起致命事件被判无罪。大多数参议员投票给前总统定罪，但没有达到定罪所需的超级多数门槛。
“这是我国历史上最大的政治迫害的又一阶段。特朗普在一份声明中说:“没有一位总统经历过这样的事情，而且这种情况还在继续，因为我们的对手不能忘记近7500万人，这是在任总统有史以来的最高数字，他们就在几个月前投票给了我们。”
“我们让美国再次伟大的历史、爱国和美丽的运动才刚刚开始。在接下来的几个月里，我有很多东西要与你们分享，我期待着继续我们不可思议的旅程，共同为我们所有的人实现美国的伟大。从来没有过这样的事！”声明继续说道。
周六上午，参议员投票听取证人的证词，参议院发生了戏剧性的变化。然而，在大约一个小时的休会后，参议院决定不传唤证人，而是选择接受众议院议员海梅·埃雷拉·贝特勒(Jaime Herrera Beutler)的书面证词作为证据。
然后，控方和辩方都提出了他们的结案陈词。投票开始时，当每个参议员的名字被叫到时，参议院陷入了沉默。按照参议院规则的要求，在场的每个参议员都必须站在各自的办公桌后面宣布特朗普“有罪”或“无罪”。57名参议员投票给特朗普定罪，43名参议员投票无罪释放。
由于需要参议院三分之二的票数才能定罪，投票结果差了10票。
七名共和党参议员——犹他州的米特·罗姆尼(Sens. Mitt Romney)、缅因州的苏珊·科林斯、阿拉斯加州的莉萨·穆尔科斯基、内布拉斯加州的本·萨斯(Ben Sasse)、路易斯安那州的比尔·卡西迪、北卡罗来纳州的理查德·伯尔(Richard Burr)和宾夕法尼亚州的帕特·图梅(Pat Toomey)——与民主党人一起投票认定特朗普犯有“煽动叛乱”罪。
只有一名共和党参议员罗姆尼在特朗普的第一次弹劾审判中投票给他定罪。
卡西迪在投票后发表声明说:“我们的宪法和我们的国家比任何一个人都重要。我投票给特朗普总统定罪，因为他有罪。”
尽管无罪释放，众议院弹劾主管杰米·拉斯金(Jamie Raskin，医学博士)称赞了国会和与他合作的众议院经理。
拉斯金说:“我们有明确和令人信服的大多数国会议员，总统实际上煽动了反对工会和国会的暴力叛乱。”他补充说，这是该国历史上最大的两党总统弹劾。
从一开始，许多共和党参议员就支持总统——周二有44人投票认为给前总统定罪是违宪的。
在审判期间，众议院弹劾经理认为1月6日的暴乱是特朗普推翻总统选举的最后一次尝试。他们声称他不是无辜的旁观者，而是一个局内人和煽动者。他们声称，几个月来，他一直在用虚假的说法和没有证据证明选举是偷来的来奠定基础，这激怒了那些将在1月6日诉诸暴力的美国人。
加州众议员埃里克·斯威尔(Eric Swalwell)说:“他在几个月的时间里通过反复发送信息建立了这群暴徒，直到他们相信自己的选票被抢走了，他们会不惜一切代价阻止认证。”“他让他们相信他们的胜利是偷来的，并煽动他们，这样他就可以利用他们来为自己窃取选举。”
众议院经理们进行了激烈的辩论展示，经常展示起义期间的暴力和英雄主义时刻。
经理们播放的视频时间线显示了那一天有多糟糕，以及本来可能会更糟糕。根据他们的说法，暴乱者离一些参议员只有58步之遥。他们展示了以前看不见的罗姆尼被国会警察尤金·古德曼阻止走错路走向暴徒的镜头。他们重申，当迈克·彭斯副总统和他的家人被锁在同一栋楼里时，他们离危险有多近，暴徒们在那里高喊要绞死副总统。
“事实是，如果没有唐纳德·特朗普，这场攻击永远不会发生。所以他们来了，披着特朗普的国旗，用我们的国旗，美国国旗击打和重击，”众议院议员马德琳·迪恩，宾夕法尼亚州。，说道。另一位众议院经理、科罗拉多州众议员乔·内格斯(Joe Neguse)也提出了类似的论点，称特朗普“将他们引向了这里，引向了国会”。他毫不夸张地在演讲的一部分指着我们
经理们的争论结束了传达的信息是，投票定罪追究特朗普的责任1月6日的事件，如果罪名成立，参议院需要举行额外的投票，取消特朗普寻求连任的资格。
“我亲爱的同事们，这个房间里有没有哪位政治领袖认为，如果参议院允许唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)重返椭圆形办公室，他将停止煽动暴力来得逞？”众议院弹劾经理杰米·拉斯金在闭幕词中说。“你会拿更多警察的生命来打赌吗？你敢拿你家人的安全打赌吗？你会把你民主的未来押在这上面吗？”
特朗普的律师在反驳时经常好斗。
他们既没有试图声称选举结果是虚假的，也没有为1月6日的行动辩护。他们集中讨论声称前总统的话没有煽动暴力，政治言论必须得到保护，参议院不能根据宪法对普通公民定罪。
特朗普的律师之一迈克尔·范德维恩(Michael van der Veen)认为，特朗普在暴乱前的讲话中的言论并不暴力，因为他呼吁和平，特朗普有第一修正案的权利使用基本上是老生常谈的政治言论，呼吁他的支持者“战斗”。范德文一再声称特朗普的语言与民主党人和媒体使用的类似言论几乎没有区别。他接着展示了民主党人使用类似措辞的各种剪辑视频，他们还呼吁他们的支持者“战斗”，或者说他们将在参议院“战斗”。
辩护小组进一步倾向于华盛顿已经存在的政治分歧，还显示民主党人敦促在1月6日事件之前弹劾特朗普。
“这些是‘战斗’这个词的隐喻性修辞用法，”范德维恩说。“我们都知道，对吗？突然‘打’字禁止了？请宽恕我们的虚伪和虚假的愤怒。这是一个被两党政治家反复使用的术语。”
不管他是否无罪，审判将巩固特朗普作为美国历史上唯一两次被弹劾的总统的地位。
Former President Donald Trump acquitted in 2nd impeachment trial
Exactly a month and a week after insurrectionists incited a riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial came to a climactic end on Saturday afternoon, with Trump being acquitted for his alleged role of inciting the deadly event. A majority of senators voted to convict the former president, but failed to reach the super majority threshold needed for a conviction.
"This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country. No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few short months ago," Trump said in a statement.
"Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun. In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it!" the statement continued.
Drama ensued on the Senate floor Saturday morning when senators voted to hear from witnesses. However, after a roughly one-hour recess, the Senate determined no witnesses would be called, and opted instead to admit into evidence written testimony from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash.
Then, both the prosecution and defense presented their closing arguments. When the vote began, the Senate chamber fell silent as each senator's name was called. As required by Senate rules, each senator present had to pronounce Trump "guilty" or "not guilty" while they stood behind their individual desks. A group of 57 senators voted to convict Trump, and 43 senators voted to acquit.
With two-thirds of the Senate necessary to convict, the vote fell 10 short.
Seven GOP senators -- Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania -- joined Democrats to vote Trump guilty of "incitement of insurrection."
Only one GOP senator, Romney, voted to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial.
Cassidy issued a statement after his vote, saying, "Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty."
Despite the acquittal, lead House Impeachment Manager Jamie Raskin, D-Md., praised Congress and the House managers who worked with him.
"We have a clear and convincing majority of members of Congress that the president actually incited violent insurrection against the union and against the Congress," Raskin said, adding it was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment in the history of the country.
From the start, many Republican senators stood by the president -- with 44 voting Tuesday it was unconstitutional to convict a former president.
During the trial, House impeachment managers argued that the Jan. 6 riot was Trump's final attempt to overturn the presidential election. They claimed he was no innocent bystander, but rather, an insider and the instigator. They claimed he had been laying the groundwork for months with false claims and no proof the election was stolen, riling up Americans who would turn to violence on Jan. 6.
"He built this mob over many months with repeated messaging until they believed that they had been robbed of their vote and they would do anything to stop the certification," Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said. "He made them believe that their victory was stolen and incited them so he could use them to steal the election for himself."
The House managers made an intense presentation, often showing moments of both violence and heroism during the insurrection.
The video timeline the managers played showed how bad that day was, and how it could have been much worse. According to their argument, the rioters had been just 58 steps away from some senators. They showed previously unseen footage of Romney being stopped from going the wrong way toward the mob by Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman. They reiterated how close Vice President Mike Pence and his family were to danger when they were locked down within the same building where rioters were chanting to hang the vice president.
"The truth is, this attack never would have happened but for Donald Trump. And so they came, draped in Trump's flag, and used our flag, the American flag to batter and to bludgeon," Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., said. Another House manager, Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., made a similar argument, saying Trump "directed them here, to Congress. He quite literally, at one part of that speech, pointed at us."
The managers' argument ended with the message that a vote to convict is simply holding Trump accountable for the events of Jan. 6, and that if convicted, the Senate would need to hold an additional vote to disqualify Trump from seeking reelection.
"My dear colleagues, is there any political leader in this room who believes that if he is ever allowed by the Senate to get back into the Oval Office, Donald Trump would stop inciting violence to get his way?" lead House Impeachment Manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in his closing arguments. "Would you bet the lives of more police officers on that? Would you bet the safety of your family on that? Would you bet the future of your democracy on that?"
Trump's lawyers were often combative in their rebuttal.
They neither sought to call the election results fraudulent nor did they defend the actions of Jan. 6. They focused their argument on claiming the former president's words did not incite violence, that political speech must be protected and that the Senate cannot convict a private citizen under the Constitution.
One of Trump's attorneys, Michael van der Veen, argued that Trump's comments during his speech before the riot were not violent because he had called for peace, and that Trump had a First Amendment right to use what is largely commonplace political rhetoric, calling for his supporters to "fight." Van der Veen repeatedly claimed that Trump's language is nearly indistinguishable from similar rhetoric used by Democrats and the media. He proceeded to show various edited video montages of Democrats using similar rhetoric, where they also called on their supporters to "fight" or saying they would "fight" on the Senate floor.
Further leaning into Washington's already political divisiveness, the defense team also showed Democrats urging for Trump's impeachment before the events of Jan. 6.
"These are the metaphorical, rhetorical uses of the word 'fight,'" van der Veen said. "We all know that, right? Suddenly the word 'fight' is off limits? Spare us the hypocrisy and false indignation. It's a term used over and over and over again by politicians on both sides of the aisle."
Regardless of his acquittal, the trial will cement Trump's place as the only president to be impeached twice in American history.
