On Saturday, February 13, 2021, the United States Senate has acquitted former President Donald J. Trump for inciting his supporters to attack the United States Capitol on January 6. This was Mr. Trump’s second impeachment in four years.

House Managers, led by Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, presented their case, urging the Senate to convict Mr. Trumps for inciting his loyal supporters to storm the Capitol to prevent Congress from satisfying Mr. Joseph R. Biden’s victory.

The eight House Managers, in separate presentations, argued that President Trump planned the attacks by refusing to tell reporters when asked in August of last year whether he will accept the result when he loses and commits to a peaceful transfer of power. They further argued that instead of answering that he will concede if he loses, Mr. Trump said the only way he will not win is if the election was rigged.

By insisting that the only way he will lose before the election, House Managers argued that Trump was planting doubts in his supporters’ minds and getting them ready for violence. The Managers further indicated in video clips and Twitter messages of Trumps repeatedly criticizing election officials and claiming without any evidence that the November 3 elections were stolen from him.

According to House Managers, Mr. Trumps’ campaign filed 62 election-related lawsuits in various courts across the country, including the United States Supreme Court but lost in all those cases. After exhausting all his legal remedies to overturn the election, Lead Manager Raskin said that Mr. Trump began pressuring and threatening election officials, including Republican Governors, not to certify Biden victory.

Moreover, House Manager pointed out that and his desperate effort to hijack the elections, Mr. Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find 1780 votes, the total number of votes he lost to Biden by plus one to give him Georgia. Mr. Raffensperger and other elections and state legislators told Mr. Trump that they could not do what he was requesting. The former President then decided to use force to stop Biden from taking office on January 20. He gathered his supporters at a rally in Washington DC and incited them to storm the Capitol. House Managers argued that storming the Capitol was the last tool in Mr. Trump’s arsenal to stay in power against the voters’ will.

In their opening arguments, the former President’s legal team described Trump’s impeachment trial as an attempt by Democrats to exclude Trump from participating in future elections because they are afraid of facing him. Furthermore, Mr. Bruce Castro and David Schoen argued that the Senate does not have the constitutional authority to try Mr. Trump because impeachment is only for officials in office and not those that are not. Therefore, since Trump left office on January 20, House Democrats have no constitutional basis for conducting an impeachment proceeding against the former President.

To get past the constitutionality question, the Senate voted 55 to 45 to proceed with the trial, therefore muting the former President’s lawyers’ argument that the Senate does not have the constitutional authority to try Mr. Trump.

After the Senate had settled the constitutional question with five Republicans joining their Democratic colleagues, Castro, and Schoen, warned Democrats that conducting a trial at this time against Trump will further divide the nation. Trump’s lawyers indicated that 76 million Americans voted for Mr. Trump, and they believe that the Democrats are trying to silence these voters and not unite the country.

The former President’s lawyer raised the First Amendment right to free speech. According to Castro and Schoen, Mr. Trump has the constitutional right to criticize the elections, and his speech is protected under the constitution. House Managers said they have no problem with Mr. Trump and agreed that his speech is protected constitutionally. However, they equated Trump’s action to that of a fire chief responsible for putting off fires but sends people to set fire, and when the fire starts, he is called to extinguish the fire, he refuses.

Mr. Castro and his team provided video clips of permanent Democrats calling for Trump’s impeachment soon after his victory in 2016. Additionally, they accused Democrats of peddling falsehood about Russian’s involvement in 2016. Trump’s lawyer videos also show Democrats objecting to certifying Trump’s Electoral College win and included in one of those videos refusing, was Lead Manager Raskin.

After both sides rested their arguments, the Senate voted 57 to 43 to acquit Trump for inciting January 6 mob attacks. Unlike the first impeachment, this time seven Republican Senators join Democrats to convict Mr. Trump. House Manager Joe Neguse, speaking on CBS’ Face the Nation, describes 57, both Democrats and Republicans, voting that President Trump was guilty of inciting the January 6 riot as the most bipartisan impeachment trial in the nation’s history.

While 43 Republicans voted for his acquittal, few of these senators believe that Mr. Trump bears full responsibility for the Capitol attack. Seven people, including two Capitol Police Officers, lost their lives.

Senate Minority Leader: Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has been inconsistent in his approach to Mr. Trump’s impeachment. Senator McConnell refused to accept trying Mr. Trump when he was Majority Leader, insisting that Trump was about to leave office and it was not the right time to start an impeachment. Then-Senator McConnell voted with 45 Republican Senators that Trump’s impeachment was unconstitutional.

After voting for Trump’s acquittal, in his twenty-minute speech on the Senate floor, Senator McConnell sounded like House Impeachment Managers, buttressing their arguments as to why Mr. Trump is guilty and must be convicted.

Moreover, the former Majority leader agreed that 76 million Americans voted for Trump, but it was not those 76 million people that stormed the Capitol. Mr. McConnell said it was just a handful of people who have been listening to the President who falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen.

Trump’s acquittal leaves the country still deeply divided, with most Democrats believing that Trump was guilty while Republicans think he is not.

House Speaker Ms. Nancy Pelosi told reporters that Congress would set up a 9/11 Commission style to investigate the Capitol’s attack.