Five people including a Capitol Police officer died: US Senate votes to acquit Trump of ‘incitement of insurrection’ ⁰

The US Senate voted Saturday acquit former president Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection charges linked to the deadly January 6 invasion of the Capitol building.

Senate Democrats led by impeachment manager Jamie Raskin began laying out the case against Trump on Tuesday. In three days of testimony, they accused the former president of directly inciting the mob that left his January 6 rally near the White House and invaded the Capitol building to halt the certification of Electoral College votes giving Joe Biden the presidency. Democrats used dramatic video of the mob to underscore the dangers lawmakers faced that day, with Raskin stating bluntly that the trial is about “setting standards of conduct for the president of the United States so this never happens to us again”.

In counter arguments on Friday, Trump’s defense lawyers maintained that Trump’s statements on January 6 could not be directly linked to the storming of the Capitol hours later and urged the Senate to acquit. Defense lawyer Michael van der Veen told the chamber Trump’s exhortation to the crowd to “fight like hell” was merely “political rhetoric”, adding: “Countless politicians have spoken of ‘fighting’ for our principles.”

Five people including a Capitol Police officer died in the unrest. Two other officers who responded to the insurgency committed suicide in the days following.

Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives on January 13, making him the only US president to be impeached twice. He is also the first to face trial after leaving office. 

Source: France 24