Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said that President Donald Trump’s exoneration on two articles of impeachment is “virtually valueless” because Republicans blocked new witnesses from the Senate trial.
“Now that our Republican colleagues have rejected a fair trial — truth — there’s a giant asterisk next to the president’s acquittal. The asterisk says he was acquitted without facts. He was acquitted without a fair trial. And it means his acquittal is virtually valueless,” Schumer said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Although the Senate trial was all but guaranteed with Republicans having a 53-seat majority, the attention was focused over whether four Republicans would vote with Democrats to call new witnesses.
However, only Republican Senators Mitt Romney and Susan Collins voted to allow witnesses, falling short of a simple majority.
According to The Hill, Romney joined with every Democrat to try to convict Trump of abusing his power in his decision to delay the Ukraine aid but still fell short of the 67 votes needed. The second article, obstruction of Congress, was a party line.
“A lot of Republicans, Leader McConnell, failed that test, failed to live up to what this country is all about, failed to live up to the truth,” Schumer said. “We made the fight for the truth … and it created a bipartisan impeachment. That can never be erased from history. Never.”
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