TRUMP IMPEACHMENT-AFTER SHOCK: WASHINGTON- Trump attacks Mitt Romney over impeachment vote

“There can be no acquittal without a trial, and there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence,” said the top Democrat in Congress — who a day earlier ripped up her copy of Trump’s State of the Union address on live television.

“Sadly, because of the Republican Senate’s betrayal of the Constitution, the president remains an ongoing threat to American democracy, with his insistence that he is above the law and that he can corrupt the elections if he wants to.”

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said the acquittal was “virtually valueless” since Republicans refused witnesses at his trial, something which Democrats said had never happened before at any impeachment trial.

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– ‘Forever impeached’ –

The Democrats’ intense 78-day House investigation faced public doubts and high-pressure White House stonewalling, a tactic which led to the obstruction charge.

Concerned about the political risk for the party, Pelosi rejected a call early last year to impeach Trump on evidence compiled by then-special counsel Robert Mueller that he had obstructed the Russia election meddling investigation.

But her concerns melted after new allegations surfaced in August that Trump had pressured Ukraine for help in his 2020 campaign.

Though doubtful from the outset that they would win support from Republicans, an investigation amassed with surprising speed strong evidence to support the allegations.

The evidence showed that from early in 2019, Trump’s private lawyer Rudy Giuliani and a close political ally, Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, were scheming to pressure Kiev to help smear Democrats, including Trump’s potential 2020 rival Joe Biden, by opening investigations into them.

“We must say enough — enough! He has betrayed our national security, and he will do so again,” Adam Schiff, who led the House prosecution, argued on the Senate floor this week.

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– ‘Colossal’ mistake –

In the trial, Trump’s defense was not seen as having undermined the facts compiled by Schiff’s probe, and several Republican senators acknowledged he did wrong.

But his lawyers and Senate defenders argued, essentially, that Trump’s behavior was not egregious enough for impeachment and removal.

And, pointing to the December House impeachment vote, starkly along party lines, they painted it as a political effort to “destroy the president” in an election year and insisted voters should be allowed to decide Trump’s fate.

As he wound down the Senate proceedings, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was confident impeachment would ultimately benefit Republicans.

“They thought this was a great idea. At least for the short term, it has been a colossal political mistake.”