The House adopted the article of impeachment (“Incitement of Insurrection”) against President Donald Trump on January 13, 2021. The article, contained in House Resolution 24, was then sent to the Senate to decide whether or not to convict Trump and remove him from office. The article alleges that Trump engaged in “high Crimes and Misdemeanors by inciting violence against the Government of the United States.” He did so, the article claims, by repeatedly issuing “false statements asserting that the Presidential election results were the product of widespread fraud and should not be accepted by the American people or certified by State or Federal officials”; by reiterating the claim that “we won the election” at his January 6, 2021, Washington, D.C., rally; and by saying in his January 6 speech, “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
The Senate acquitted Trump on February 13, 2021 by a vote of 57 to 43 (Roll Call 59; a two-thirds majority of those present and voting is required to convict). We have assigned pluses to the nays because the Senate may not constitutionally convict a private citizen, which is what Trump was at the time of this vote, and also because he had not committed any crime — much less “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” (the constitutional standard for impeachment) — by exercising his right to free speech regarding the election results and political activism. Also, to interpret his “fight like hell” remark as a call to violence is ludicrous. In the same speech, Trump stated, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
