This afternoon — and for the third time in historical past — the US Senate will vote on acquitting or convicting a president of a number of arti
This afternoon — and for the third time in historical past — the US Senate will vote on acquitting or convicting a president of a number of articles of impeachment. The end result is one which’s basically been anticipated because the trial began simply over two weeks in the past: President Donald Trump can be acquitted.
Given Republicans’ 53-person majority within the Senate, the votes are going to fall far in need of the 67 wanted to convict and take away the president from workplace.
Nonetheless, the vote is a hanging one. It follows an acrimonious Senate trial — the shortest in historical past — throughout which Home impeachment managers introduced an awesome quantity of proof to make their case for the 2 articles of impeachment. These two articles, first handed by the Home final yr, cost the president with abuse of energy and obstruction of Congress. They managers famous that Trump each conditioned army help to Ukraine on the announcement of investigations into his political rivals and tried to dam Congress from investigating in any respect.
Trump’s protection, nonetheless, successfully argued {that a} president has leeway to do no matter he needs if it’s within the curiosity of his reelection, and that any wrongdoing he dedicated didn’t warrant elimination from workplace.
A number of Republicans, together with Sens. Susan Collins, Lamar Alexander and Rob Portman, have acknowledged that Trump’s actions have been improper. They’ve declined, nonetheless, to vote in favor of conviction, unlike Sen. Mitt Romney — who made a shock announcement Wednesday that he would vote to convict on one article of impeachment.
You’ll be able to watch the vote, which begins at four pm ET, on CSPAN or on the Vox Facebook page. We’ll even be embedding a livestream on this web page nearer to the vote.
What to anticipate
At this level, we just about know the way everybody will vote, save for 2 Senate Democrats seen as potential defectors.
Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have but to disclose whether or not they’ll vote to convict or acquit — and each may peel away from their occasion, largely resulting from strain from constituents.
Manchin, a senator from West Virginia — which went for Trump by double digits in 2016 — beforehand voted with Republicans on Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court docket affirmation and is thought for defecting on contentious votes prior to now. Whereas he’s not up for reelection anytime quickly, he’s repeatedly stated he’s undecided about how he’ll vote.
“I do imagine a bipartisan majority of this physique would vote to censure President Trump for his motion on this matter,” Manchin stated earlier this week. “Censure would enable this physique to unite throughout occasion traces.”
Sinema isn’t up for re-election both, although Arizona independents aren’t as supportive of impeachment, a dynamic that’s prone to issue into her resolution.
Senate Democrats are hoping to maintain up a united entrance on the vote, very similar to Republicans have. Within the Home, no Republicans voted in favor of charging Trump with articles of impeachment. Within the Senate, although, Romney has already assured that the vote can be a bipartisan one.