The last 2 Democratic Senate holdouts vote to convict Trump
It won't change the course of the Senate trial's outcome, but the Democrats wound up sticking together during Wednesday's vote.
The last two holdouts among Democratic senators, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), decided they had seen enough to convict President Trump on both abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Manchin was seen as an especially likely candidate to possibly give Trump a bipartisan acquittal, but he said, in the end, he "reluctantly" reached the conclusion that the evidence brought forth by the House impeachment managers "clearly supports the charges brought against he president."
Voting whether or not to remove a sitting President has been a truly difficult decision, and after listening to the arguments presented by both sides, I have reached my conclusion reluctantly. My full statement: pic.twitter.com/yIgy6Qf5JZ
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) February 5, 2020
Sinema, like Manchin, is considered a moderate member of the Democratic Party, but she too said it was "clear" Trump withheld aid from Ukraine to "benefit" his re-election chances, which she argued is "dangerous to the fundamental principles of American democracy."
Ultimately, it was the Republican Party that fractured, if ever so slightly, with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) voting to convict on the abuse of power article, making it the first time there's ever been a bipartisan vote to remove a president from office, even though the attempt failed.
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