UPDATE 2-'Wounds that divide': Senate set to end Trump impeachment drama with acquittal

The impeachment drama that has consumed Washington since September will come to an end on Wednesday with Donald Trump's expected acquittal in the U.S. Senate, with the Republican president pivoting toward winning re-election in November. The Republican-controlled Senate was scheduled to vote at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) on whether to convict him on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress arising from his dealings with Ukraine in only the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history. The Democratic-led House of Representatives approved the charges on Dec. 18.

While the vote is historic, the outcome of acquittal appears assured. A two-thirds majority vote would be necessary to remove him. Republicans hold 53 of the Senate's 100 seats, and none of them has called for conviction. Trump, America's 45th president, would have to turn over his office to Vice President Mike Pence if convicted on either charge. After facing the darkest chapter of his presidency, Trump, 73, is seeking a second four-year term in the Nov. 3 election.

As they did on Tuesday, senators ahead of the vote made a series of speeches explaining their decision in the trial. It remains to be seen whether any Democratic senators break ranks from their party to hand Trump a bipartisan acquittal. "I hope our Democratic colleagues will finally accept the results of this trial, just as they have not accepted the results of the 2016 election," said Republican Senator John Cornyn, saying he hopes they do not launch a second impeachment inquiry. "It's time for our country to come together, to heal the wounds that divide us."

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley said, "President Trump should be removed from office this very day. But he will not be removed," because the Senate has not held a fair trial and "because the sirens' call to party loyalty over country has infected this chamber." Senate Republicans voted down a Democratic bid to call witnesses such as former national security adviser John Bolton and present new evidence in the trial.

The House launched its impeachment inquiry in September. The charges it leveled against Trump centered on his request that Ukraine investigate political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden and the president's subsequent actions to block testimony and documents sought by the House in its impeachment investigation. Democrats accused Trump of abusing his power by withholding $391 million in security aid passed by Congress to help Ukraine combat Russia-backed separatists as leverage to pressure Kiev to help him smear a political rival.

Biden is running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Trump in November. Partisan rancor reverberated through the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday night as Trump delivered his annual State of the Union remarks, with tensions between him and House Democrats spilling into public view.

'PERFECT' CALL Trump's Senate trial began on Jan. 16. He denied wrongdoing and most Republicans in the House and Senate rallied around him. Over the past few days, some Republican senators have criticized Trump's behavior but said it did not warrant his ouster.

Trump in a July 25 telephone call asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigates the Bidens and a discredited theory beneficial to Russia that Ukraine colluded with Democrats to try to undermine Trump in the 2016 election. Trump has accused the Bidens of corruption without offering evidence. They have denied wrongdoing. "It was wrong for him to ask a foreign country to investigate a political rival," Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican up for re-election this year, said on Tuesday, adding that Trump had learned his lesson.

Trump, asked if he had learned a lesson as Collins suggested, told television news anchors on Tuesday that he had done nothing wrong, saying his call with Zelenskiy was "perfect," the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the conversation. Senator Mitt Romney, the only other Republican along with Collins to vote to allow witnesses, is expected to make remarks on Wednesday.

Trump is the third U.S. president to have been impeached. The two others, Bill Clinton in 1999 and Andrew Johnson in 1868, were left in power by the Senate. Clinton was acquitted on charges of lying under oath and obstruction of justice stemming from a sexual relationship with a White House intern. Johnson was acquitted of 11 charges focusing on a post-Civil War dispute over his removal of the secretary of war.

 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)