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Impeachment vote leaves little doubt to what Trump did

The U.S. Senate failed to muster the 67 votes needed to impeach former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday. But the 43 Republican votes against impeachment were not exactly an exoneration. The evidence presented by the House impeachment managers made clear that the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol was the result of months of Trump’s statements, tweets and activities trying to overturn the results of the November election and keep his hold on the White House.

After the vote, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said this: “There is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the event of that day.” He said Trump’s actions surrounding the attack on Congress were “a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.”

That includes Trump’s refusal to make a strong rebuttal of the violence, even as members of Congress were calling him, pleading with him to call off the rioters. He reportedly told House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., “Well, Kevin, I guess Well, Kevin, I guess these people (the rioters) are more upset about the election than you are.”

But McConnell and other Republicans grabbed at the technicality that Congress couldn’t vote to remove Trump from an office he no longer held.

McConnell also said that Trump may be facing more litigation in civil and criminal courts now that he is a private citizen without the protection of executive privilege.

In other words, the unsuccessful impeachment may not be the last we will hear of battle for the 2020 presidential election.

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