Trump acquitted after violent insurrection prompts impeachment

The Senate voted 57-43 to convict the former president, 10 short of the two-thirds threshold

Mikaela Foehr / Copy Editor

In the entirety of American history, there have been four impeachment trials, three of which have occurred during many student’s lifetimes, and two of those three in the last two years. The impeachment of President Donald Trump during the final days of his term marks history as the first time a sitting president has been impeached twice, and the first time a president who has already left office endured an impeachment trial.

The charges brought against Trump by the Democrat-led House of Representatives were for “(engaging) in high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States.” The impeachment trial was conducted on the Senate floor, hearing cases for and against why Trump should be formally removed from office from the prosecution and defense teams respectively.

Impeachment trials have a ripple effect across the country, and here on campus that effect can be observed heavily in the political science and international relations department. During the past two impeachment trials, professors teaching American politics courses have scrambled to rewrite syllabi and lesson plans to highlight this rare occurrence of the Constitution in action. 

Evan Crawford, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science, found Trump’s second impeachment especially necessary to incorporate because of the unique nature of the situation, with the president in question already out of office.

“These are rare events and also incredibly important,” Crawford said. “I spent time with my intro students on questions pertaining to the constitutionality question that was part of Trump’s defense. This of course, was after spending the first of the semester talking at length about the events of Jan. 6.”

As a political science major, Cailyn Thompson, senior, saw the impeachment trial as an intersection between lectures and real life.

“We get to explore more of the differences in how the Constitution can be read and interpreted, and how the powers of  it can be used in everyday life,” Thompson said. 

She also saw the proceedings as a small beacon of hope in a politically divided nation. 

“Considering this was one of the more bipartisan impeachments, it maybe shows us that we aren’t completely divided and the world doesn’t have to be seen in black or white,” Thompson said.

The prosecution team, made up of Democratic Representatives from the House, centered its case on proving that Trump was aware of the effect of his words on the crowd at his Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal rally. They brought forth an extensive amount of evidence that ranged from quotes from Trump’s speech that day, to statements from detained members of the mob, to analysis of Trump’s response to the insurrectionists. Additionally, the prosecution relied heavily on video evidence from the violent insurrection, provoking an emotional response from some congresspeople as they were all witnesses to the deadly events of Jan. 6, which resulted in the deaths of five people, including one Capitol police officer. 

On the contrary, the defense focused their efforts on undermining the legitimacy of the impeachment charges and trial by framing it as the final step in a campaign of partisan attacks against Trump. In terms of specific allegations that Trump incited violence, namely through the Stop the Steal rally, his defense team claimed that phrases such as “fight like hell” are common political rhetoric and have been used many times by politicians on both sides of the aisle. 

Despite the partisan framing by the defense, the fact that ten Republican representatives voted for the impeachment charges, makes this the most bipartisan impeachment in history. 

The impeachment trial was conducted in less than a week, with the final vote held on Feb. 13. Trump was acquitted of the impeachment charges with a 57-43 vote to convict, meaning that seven Republican senators voted against the former president of their own party. A two-thirds majority, ten additional votes, would have been needed to convict Trump of the charges. 

With the impeachment trial over, the Democratic-controlled Congress can now turn its attention to working with President Biden to navigate his agenda.