BREAKING: Trump ‘Not guilty as charged’ as Senate acquits him on two articles of impeachment

With 48 senators voting to pronounce Donald John Trump of the United States, guilty as charged and 52 senators voting to announce him not guilty as charged, Trump was acquitted on the two articles of impeachment — abuse of power and obstruction of Congress — after an historically unusual but typically contentious trial few minutes ago.

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Chief Justice John Roberts presided over the the two votes – one for each article – and instructed senators to vote ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty,’ which is different from the usual ‘yeah’ or ‘nay’ lawmakers say.

LIST OF APPLICATIONS FOR REGULARISATION OF AREA COUNCIL LAND DOCUMENTS NULLIFIED/CANCELLED BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF FCT

Since two-third of the senators present found him guilty, “the Senate judges Donald John Trump – the president of the United States – is not guilty as charged in the first article of impeachment,’ Roberts announced after the first vote, which was on abuse of power.

LIST OF APPLICATIONS FOR REGULARISATION OF AREA COUNCIL LAND DOCUMENTS NULLIFIED/CANCELLED BY THE HONOURABLE MINISTER OF FCT

The result of the process had never been in question after the House voted to impeach Trump in December. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said months ago he considered it “inconceivable” that a sufficient number of Republicans would break ranks and support removing Trump from office.

One surprise on Wednesday, however, was that one Republican voted to convict and remove Trump: Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.

Romney, never a close ally of Trump, said in a tearful speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday that he felt compelled by the oath he swore in Trump’s case to act on his conviction that the president’s actions were “grievously wrong.”

Although Romney said he expected to be “vehemently denounced,” he is believed to the first senator in history to vote to convict in the impeachment of a president of his own party.