republic. the framers built the senate to keep temporary rage from doing permanent damage to our republic. that, mr. president, is what we will do when we end this precedent-breaking impeachment. we will look back on this vote and say this was the day that the fever began to break. i hope that we will not say, this was just the beginning. i ask unanimous consent for the senate to stand in recess subject to the call of the chair. >> without objection, the senate stands in recess subject to the call of the chair. i'm jake tapper here with wolf blitzer and our panel and we are talking about this moment

in history where we are expecting any moment majority leader mitch mcconnell to bring up the articles of impeachment, and there should be a vote to acquit president trump as it looks as the votes are 52 republican senators will all vote to acquit president trump, and 52 democratic senators and one republican senator mitt romney who will vote for the impeachment. mitt romney is going to be the first senator to vote to remove a president from his same party. and so now we bring in a panel, jeffrey toobin, that there were two democrats who had not announced how they would vote,

and kirster sti krysten sznema, surprised? >> yes. i am a little surprised with nixon and then clinton and now trump. you can see the rise of the partisanship in each of the impeachments you have fewer defections from one party to another, and -- >> in the house. >> in the house, and you saw that it was republicans who essentially forced his resignation and the famous meeting of barry goldwater and hugh scott and barry rose who went to the president, and here, it is bipartisanship because 1 of 100 senators is voting against his party and that is indicative of the nature of the partisan world. >> hold on one second.

>> there is going to be two roll calls, and one on each article of the impeachment, and manu raja is up on capitol hill getting the start of the procedure on the senate floor and what are you learning? >> we are expecting all of the democrats to vote to convict the president on both charges and that is after joe manchin just made the announcement, the democrat from west virginia that he would vote to impeach the president on both, and also the senator from arizona, krysten sinema said she would vote to convict and also doug jones, and so this is straight party line. the democrats will be voting with the party to remove the president on both charges and you have been mentioning that mitt romney is the one senator in the entire body who is going to break ranks. talking to a number of senators,

the question is whether there is any retribution for him, and most republicans say that he will not b and he se a senator to do whatever he want to, and it is the constituents to vote him back into office, but they don't expect retribution, and it is ultimately up to the voters. we will see what the president reacts, but they won't do anything to push him out being a former presidential nominee, but some of them are surprise and many saying they are disappointed by the mitt romney decision, but he is the one senator planning to break ranks, and so we will see the vote on the articles. >> the deputy and sergeant of arms will make the proclamation. >> here ye, here ye, upon pains of the senate of the united

states, while the senate is holding a impeachment vote and the approval or disapproval is prohibited. >> the articles of impeachment will be done done and then we will adjourn. >> the clerk will read the first article of impeachment. >> article one, abuse of power, the constitution provides that the house of representatives, quote, shall have the sole power of impeachment, end quote. and that the president, quote, shall be removed from office on impeachment four and conviction of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors close quote. in his conduct of the office of president of the united states, and in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of the president of the united states and to the best of his ability preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united

states and in violation ofconst offices donald j. trump has abused the powers of the presidency in using the powers tof high office, president trump solicited the interference of the foreign government, ukraine n the 2020, united states presidential election. he did so through a scheme or course of conduct that included soliciting the government of ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his re-election, harm the election prospects of a political opponent, and influence the 2020 presidential election to his advantage. president trump also sought to pressure the government of ukraine by taking these steps by pressuring the acts of significant value on ukraine with the public announcements of the investigations. president trump engaged in this scheme for corrupt purposes and in pursuit of the political

benefit. in doing so, president trump used the powers tof presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the united states and undermined the integrity of the united states democratic process and he thus ignore and injured the interest of the nation. he conducted in the scheme or the course of conduct through the following means -- one, president trump acting directly and through his agents within and outside of the united states government corruptly solicited the government of ukraine to publicly announce investigations into a, a political opponent former vice president joseph r. biden jr. and b, a discredited theory promoted by russia that ukraine rather than russia interfered in the 2016 united states presidential election. two, with the same corrupt motives president trump acting directly and through his agents in the outside of the united states government conditioned two official acts and the public announcements that he had requested. a, the release of $391 million

of united states taxpayer funds that congress had appropriated on the bipartisan basis of the purpose of providing vital military and security assistance to ukraine to oppose russian aggression and in which president had ordered suspended and b, a head of state meeting at the white house which the president of ukraine sought to demonstrate continued united states support for the government of ukraine in the face of russian aggression. three, faced with the public revelation of his actions president trump ultimately released the military and security assistance to the government of ukraine and persisted in openly and encouraging soliciting ukraine to undertake investigations for his personal benefit. these actions were consistent with his previous invitations with foreign interference of united states elections. in all of this, president trump abused the powers tof president -- presidency by obtaining a

improper personal political benefit, and he has betrayed the nation by abusing the high office by corrupting democratic elections where for president trump has demonstrated by conduct he will remain a threat to security of the united states, and has acted in a manner that is grossly incompatible with the rule of law and thus he warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office and disqualification to enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the united states. >> each senator when his or her name is called will stand in his or her place and vote guilty or not guilty as required by rule 23 of the senate rules on impeachment. article one, section 3, clause 6 of the constitution regarding the vote required for conviction on impeachment provides that no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of 2/3

of the members present. the question is on the firsts article of impeachment, senators how say you? is the respondent donald john trump guilty or not guilty? a roll call vote is required. the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. alexander. >> not guilty. >> mr. alexander, not guilty. >> ms. baldwin. >> nguilty. >> guilty. mr. barrasso. not guilty. mr. bennett. >> mr. bennett guilty. mrs. blackburn. mrs. blackburn, not guilty. mr. blumenthal. mr. blumenthal, guilty. mr. blount. mr. blount, not guilty. mr. booker. mr. booker, guilty.

mr. bozeman. mr. bozeman, not guilty. mr. braun. >> not guilty. >> mr. braun not guilty. mr. brown. >> mr. brown, guilty. mr. burr. mr. burr, not guilty. ms. cantwell. ms. cantwell, guilty. ms. capito. ms. capito, not guilty. mr. cardin. mr. cardin, guilty. mr. carper. mr. carper guilty. mr. casey. mr. casey, guilty. mr. cassidy. mr. cassidy, not guilty. ms. collins. ms. collins, not guilty. mr. coons.

mr. coons, guilty. mr. cornyn. mr. cornyn, not guilty. ms. cortez masto. ms. cortez masmasto, guilty. mr. cotton. mr. cotton, not guilty. mr. kramer. mr. kramer not guilty. mr. crapcrapo. mr. crapo, not guilty. mr. cruz. mr. cruz, not guilty. mr. daines. mr. daines, not guilty. ms. duckworth. ms. duckworth, guilty. mr. durbin. mr. durbin, guilty. mr. enzi. mr. enzi not guilty. ms. ernst. ms. ernst, not guilty. ms. feinstein. mrs. feinstein, guilty.

mrs. fisher. mrs. fisher, not guilty. mr. gardener. mr. gardener, not guilty. ms. gillibrand. mrs. gillibrand, guilty. mr. graham. mr. graham, not guilty. mr. grassley. mr. grassley, not guilty. ms. harris. ms. harris, guilty. ms. hassan. ms. hassan, guilty. mr. hawley. mr. hawley, not guilty. mr. hinrich, guilty. ms. hirono, guilty. mr. hoeven, guilty. ms. hide smith, not guilty.

mr. inhofe, not guilty. mr. johnson, not guilty. mr. jones. mr. jones guilty. mr. kaine. mr. kaine, guilty. mr. kennedy. mr. kennedy, not guilty. mr. king. mr. king, guilty. mrs. klobuchar. ms. klobuchar, guilty. mr. lankford. mr. lankford, not guilty. mr. leahy. mr. leahy, guilty. mr. lee. mr. lee, not guilty.

mrs. leffler, not guilty. mr. markey, not guilty. mr. mcconnell. mr. mcconnell, not guilty. ms. mcsally. ms. mcsally, not guilty. mr. menendez. mr. menendez, guilty. mr. merkley. mr. amerimerkley, not guilty. and mr. moran, guilty. and ms. murray, guilty. mr. paul. mr. paul not guilty. mr. purdue. mr. perdue, not guilty.

mr. peters. mr. peters, guilty. mr. portman. mr. portman, not guilty. mr. reade, guilty. mr. risch, not guilty. mr. roberts, not guilty. mr. romney. mr. romney, guilty. ms. rosen. ms. rosen, guilty. mr. rounds. mr. rounds, not guilty. mr. rubio. mr. rubio, not guilty. mr. sanders. mr. sanders, guilty. mr. sass. mr. sass, not guilty. mr. schatz, not guilty.

mr. scott of florida not guilty. mr. scott of south carolina, not guilty. ms. shaheen, guilty. mr. shelby. mr. shelby, not guilty. ms. zinema, guilty. ms. smith, guilty. ms. stabenow. ms. stabenow, guilty. mr. sullivan. mr. sullivan, not guilty. mr. tester. mr. tester, guilty. mr. thune. mr. thune not guilty. mr. tillis. mr. tillis, not guilty. mr. toomey. mr. toomey, not guilty. mr. udall. mr. udall, guilty.

mr. von holland. mr. van hollen, guilty. mr. warner, not guilty. ms. warren, guilty. mr. whitehouse. mr. whitehouse, guilty. mr. wicker, not guilty. mr. wyden, not guilty. mr. young, not guilty.

[ no audio ] >> this article of impeachment, 48 senators have pronounced donald john trump, president of the united states, guilty as charged. 52 senators have announced him not guilty as charged. 2/3 of the senators present not

finding him guilty, the senate judges donald john trump the president of the united states is not guilty as charged in the first article of impeachment. the clerk will read the second article of impeachment. article ii, obstruction of congress. the constitution provides that the house of representatives shall have the sole pow over impeachment, and that the presidential be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. in his conduct of the office, the president of the united states and in violation of his constitutional oath to faithfully execute the office of the president of the united states and to the best of his ability to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states and in violation

of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws that be faithfully executed donald j. trump has directed the unprecedented, categorical and indiscriminant defiance of subpoenas issued by the house of representatives pursuant to the sole power of impeachment. president trump has abused the u powers of the presidency in a manner offensive to, and subversive is of the constitution in that the house of representatives has engaged in an impeachment inquiry focused on president trump's corrupt solicitation of the government of ukraine to interfere in the 2020 united states presidential election. as part of the impeachment inquiry, the committee is undertaking the investigation served subpoenas, seeking documents and testimony deemed vital to the inquiry from various branches, agencies and offices and current and former officials. in response without lawful cause or excuse, president trump

directed executive branch agencies, offices and officials not to comply with those subpoenas. president trump thus interposed the powers tof presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the house of representatives and its functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the sole power of impeachment vested by the constitution in the house of representatives. president trump abused the powers of the high office through the following means. one, directing the white house to defy a lawful subpoena by withholding the production of documents sought therein by the committees. two, directing other executive branch agencies and offices to defy the lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of documents and records from the committees and in response to which the department of state, office of management and budget, department of energy and department of defense refused to produce a single document or record. three, directing current and

former executive branch officials not to cooperate with the committees in response to which nine administration officials defied the subpoenas, mick mulvaney, john blair, crystal ellis, michael vau. the ullrich brerich brechbuhl, o obstruct interference in the united states elections. through these actions the president trump sought to e irrigate to himself, the unilateral prerogative to deny any and all information to the house of representatives in the exercise of the sole power of impeachment. in the history of the republic, no president has ever ordered the complete defiance of an

impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct and impede so comprehensively the ability of the house of representatives to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors and this abuse of office sought to cover up the president's own repeated misconduct and to seize and control the power of impeachment, and thus to nullify a vital constitutional safeguard vested solely in the house of representatives. in all of this, president trump has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as president and subversive of the constitutional government and to the great prejudice to the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury to the people of the united states, wherefore president trump by such conduct has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with the self-governance and rule of law, and the president thus warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office

and to withhold any office of profit within the united states. >> the question is on the second article of impeachment. senators how say you? is the respondent donald j. trump guilty or not guilty. the clerk will call the roll. >> mr. alexander. >> not guilty. >> not guilty. ms. baldwin. >> guilty. >> guilty. mr. barrasso. not guilty. mr. bennet, guilty. mrs. blackburn. >> not guilty. >> not guilty. mr. blumenthal. guilty. mr. blount. not guilty. mr. booker. guilty. mr. bozeman. not guilty.

mr. braun. not guilty. mr. brown. guilty. mr. burr. not guilty. ms. cantwell. guilty. ms. capito. not guilty. mr. cardin. guilty. mr. carper. guilty. mr. casey. guilty. mr. cassidy. not guilty. ms. collins. not guilty. mr. coons. guilty. mr. cornyn. not guilty. ms. cortez masto. guilty. mr. cotton.

not guilty. mr. kramer. not guilty. mr. crapo. not guilty. mr. cruz. not guilty. mr. daines. not guilty. ms. duckworth. guilty. mr. durbin. guilty. mr. enzi. not guilty. ms. ernst. not guilty. ms. feinstein. guilty. ms. fisher. not guilty. mr. gardener. not guilty. ms. gillibrand. guilty. mr. graham. not guilty. mr. grassley. not guilty.

ms. harris. guilty. ms. hassan. guilty. mr. hawley. not guilty. mr. hinrich. guilty. ms. hirono. guilty. mr. hoeven. not guilty. ms. hyde smith. not guilty. mr. inhofe. not guilty. mr. johnson. not guilty. mr. jones. guilty. mr. kaine. guilty. mr. kennedy. not guilty. mr. king. >> guilty. >> guilty. mrs. klobuchar. guilty. mr. lankford. not guilty. mr. leahy.

guilty. mr. lee. not guilty. ms. leffler, not guilty. mr. manchin. guilty. mr. meadows. not guilty. mr. murphy. guilty. mrs. murray. guilty. mr. paul. not guilty. mr. perdue. not guilty. mr. peters.

guilty. mr. portman. not guilty. mr. reed. guilty. mr. risch. guilty. mr. romney. not guilty. ms. rosen. guilty. mr. rounds. not guilty. mr. rubio. not guilty. mr. sanders. guilty. mr. sass. not guilty. mr. schatz. not guilty. mr. schumer. guilty. mr. scott of florida. not guilty. mr. scott of south carolina. not guilty.

mrs. shaheen. guilty. mr. shelby. not guilty. ms. sinema. guilty. ms. smith. guilty. ms. stabenow. guilty. mr. sullivan. not guilty. mr. tester. guilty. mr. thune. not guilty. mr. tillis. not guilty. mr. toomey. not guilty. mr. udall. guilty. mr. van hollen. guilty. mr. warner. guilty. ms. warren. guilty. mr. whitehouse. guilty. mr. wicker. not guilty. mr. wyden.

guilty. mr. young. not guilty. on this article of impeachment, 47 senators have pronounced donald john trump of the united states guilty as charged. and 53 senators have pronounced him not guilty as charged. 2/3 of the senators present not having pronounced him guilty the

senate judges that respondent donald john trump president of the united states is not guilty as charged in the second article of impeachment. the presiding officer directs the judgment to be entered in accordance with the senate as follows. the senate having tried donald j. trump president of the united states upon two articles of impeachment exhibited against him by the house of representatives and 2/3 of the senators present not having found him guilty of the charges contained therein, it is therefore order and ajudged that the said donald john trump be hereby acquitted of the charges in the said articles. the majority leader is recognized. >> i have sent a order to the desk. >> the clerk will report.

>> ordered that the secretary be directed to communicate to the secretary of state as provided by rule 23 of the rules of procedure and practice in the senate when sitting on impeachment trials and also to the house of representatives the judgment of the senate in the case of donald john trump and transmit a certified copy of the judgment to each. >> without objection, the order will be entered. >> mr. chief justice. >> majority leader is recognized. >> before this process fully concludes, i wanted to quickly acknowledge a few of the people who helped the senate fulfill our duty these past weeks. first and foremost, i know that my colleagues join me in chan thanking chief justice roberts for providing over the senate trial with a clear head and steady hand and the forbearance that this rare occasion demands.

[ applause ] we know full well that his presence as our presiding officer came in addition to and not instead of his day job across the street. so the senate thanks the chief justice and his staff who helped him to perform this unique role. like his predecessor, chief rehnquist, the senate will present him the golden gavel for his time to preside over this body, and we typically award this to the senators who have put in 100 hours, but we can all believe that the chief justice has put in his due and then some. the page is delivering the gavel. >> thank you very much.

>> of course, there are countless senate professionals whose efforts are essentials, and i will have more thorough thanks to offer those teams from the secretary of the senate's office to the senate parliamentari parliamentarians and the sergeant at arms teams and beyond but there are two more groups that i would like to single out, and first the two different classes of senate pages who participated in the trial, and their footwork and cool under pressure literally kept the floor running, our current class came on board in the middle of the third presidential impeachment in american history and quickly found themselves hand delivering 180 question cards from the senators desks to the dias, and no pressure, right, guys. so thank you all very much for your good work. [ applause ] and also the fine men and women

of the capitol police, because we know that the safety of the democracy literally rests in their hands every single day and with the heightened hours of the trial it meant more hours and work and vigilance, and thank you you all for your service to this body and to the country. [ applause ] >> the chair recognizes the democratic leader. >> i join the republican leader in thanking the personnel who aided the senate over the last several weeks. capitol police do an outstanding job day in, day out to protect the members of the chamber, the staff, and the press and everyone who works in and visits this capitol. they were asked to work extra shifts and in greater numbers to provide additional security over the past three weeks. thank you to every one of them. i, too, would like to thank the wonderful pages. i so much enjoyed you with your

serious faces walking down right here, and giving the chief justice our questions as the leader noted, the new class of pages started midway in the impeachment trial and when you take a new job, you are usually given a few days to take stock of things and get up to speed, but this class was given no such leeway and they stepped right in and they didn't miss a beat ferrying hundreds of questions from the u.s. senators to the chief justice on national television is not how most of us spend the first week of work, but they did it aplum. and i would like to extend my personal thanks to david hallk, the office of the accessibility services, and tyler humphrey and the director of ridgeway, the director of facilities. everyone on grace's team worked so hard to make sure that we were ready for impeachment. gary richardson, known

affectionately to us as tiny, the chief chamber attendant, and jim hoover and the cabinet shop who built new cabinets to deprive us of the use of our electronics and flip phones in the trial. and brenda byrd and her team did a spectacular job of keeping the capital clean and lieden web and his team who moved the furniture and then moved it again and again and again. grace, we appreciate all your hard work, and please convey our sincerest thanks to the staff. thank you all, the whole staff, for your diligent work through many long days and late nights in the trying time in our nation's history. >> mr. chief justice -- >> and the chair wishes to make a brief statement. i would like to begin by thanking the majority leader and the democratic leader for their support as i attempted to carry out ill-defined responsibilities

in unfamiliar setting. they insured that i had the wise counsel of the senate itself through its secretary and her legislative staff. i am especially grateful to the parliamentarian and her deputy for the unfailing patience and keen insight. i am likewise grateful to the sergeant at arms and his staff for the assistance and the many courtesies they extended during my period of required residency. and thank you, all, for making my presence here as comfortable as possible. as i depart the chamber, doi so with the invitation to visit the court by long tradition and in memory of the 135 years we sat in this building. we keep the front row of the gallery in our courtroom open for members of congress who might want to drop by to see an argument or to escape one. i also depart with sincere good wishes as we carry out our common commitment to the constitution through the distinct roles assigned to us by

that charter. you have been generous host, and i look forward to seeing you again under happier circumstances. >> the chair recognizes the majority leader. >> i move that the senate sitting as the court of impeachment on the articles against donald john trump adjourn, s circumstances -- s n sinedie. >> and there it is. they vote to the majorities who vote to acquit president trump in both articles of impeachment. this is historical moment, and only happened three other times. once in 1868 and 1998 and today.

>> mitt romney is the only republican who voted in favor of the abuse of power, but he voted against the obstruction of the congress and the final vote was 53-47. >> it has been a long process. it has been a difficult and partisan and let's talk with our experts here about what we witnessed, and jeffrey toobin, let me start with you. i suppose that we always knew there would never be 67 votes to remove the president from office, but it is a historical moment. >> and what is unusual about this impeachment in particular is that the underlying facts are still in dispute. that wasn't in dispute with the bill clinton's impeachment, and the whole monica lewinsky matter, and here because there were no witnesses -- >> no new witnesses. >> and the house did a truncated investigation, we are still learning what really went on between the united states and ukraine and i expect it is going

to be going on for some time, which certainly there is a legal resolution of this matter here. i mean, the president is acquitted and that is the way it is going to stay. but history's resolution is going to be very -- is going to be unresolved. i don't know sfit t no't know i be different, but it is unrevolved politically and factually and what went on here, we don't know. >> and george conway, mitt romney is the only member of the senate who voted to remove him from office and he felt that he was in a different universe than his colleagues when the facts were presented and you a conservative attorney and i suspect that you can relate to the emotion of being in a different universe than the republican friends. >> absolutely. and the verdict of history is going to be on mitt romney's side. and talking about a different universe and not so much the vote that we expected, but

senator mcconnell's speech before the vote where he talked about, and attacked the impeachment as a violation of norms when he said that the people who are supporting the impeachment were attacking institutions until they get their way. what universe is that from? that is donald trump's signature, and his modus operandi and he is defending trump by attacking the democrats for precisely what trump has done for three years, attacking people in his own government, attacking the bureaucracy and attacking his own appointees and attacking the justice department, and attacking the entire system by which we have a trial. it is absolutely just remarkable what has been sacrificed here in addition to the senatorial oaths which as i remarked earlier means impartial justice which means that you do the same thing whether it is a democratic or republican, black, white,

whatever, and in addition to that, the truth has taken a beating here and reality has taken a beating here. >> i know we will lose you in a few minutes, but you feel that history is going to be on the side of mitt romney? >> yes. >> how can you be confident? >> the evidence and i beg to differ with jeff, the evidence was not disputed in any material way, and the evidence is going to be coming out, and it is an investigation that has not gone on very long and what scandal and criminal investigation that you know of is only three or four months' old that you know so much. and that is, what that is telling us is that there is a mountain of evidence yet to come. because not all of the evidence did come out, and the white house saw to it that it did not come out. and there was something on another network or where senator romney said that he wanted to get an affidavit to help the white house -- >> and through another individual he asked the white thousands please get affidavits

from john bolton or mick mulvaney to provide me with your point of view and provide me with exculpatory evidence. >> and think of what would be damning if they brought out the affidavit. >> and kaitlan collins over there at the white house, and any word directly if we will hear from the president of the united states who was found not guilty of both of the impeachment charges. >> we are keeping an eye on the twitter feed and we are expected to hear from him, but when and how is up in the air. we should note that this is the outcome that the white house wanted, but it is not how they thought that they were going to get it. all day long, you were hearing from the top advisers they thought that it would be a bipartisan vote to acquit president trump and mitt romney there denying him that by voting yes on the first article of impeachment, the article alleging the president abused the power of the presidency, and you heard from mike pence and kellyanne conway and even the

national security adviser robert o'brien predicting that the vote would be bi-partisan, and of course, they have been since denied that as it is coming on the first article of impeachment, and regardless, the president is going to be happy with the outcome and we are waiting to see how he does respond. >> and please stand by kaitlan, and gloria, this is only the third time that we have seen something like this, the president of the united states impeached by the house of representatives and acquitted in the u.s. senate. >> and you know, while at the outset of this, and we have all in the table lived through this through the last weeks, we have known what the final outcome was going to be. i think that going through the process was important, and it is important because you could hear from the house managers about their case, and the case they were making to the united states senate even though they knew that they were going to lose. they brought it all there. and then, you heard from the

white house, and the senators sat there for hours and hours and hours without their phones, without their staff, and obviously, this is a largely partisan decision in the end. but i think that the mitt romney decision and the speech that mitt romney made is something that will go down in history. i think that you cannot underestimate how difficult it is for someone to go against his own party and be the only person doing it, and his own president. >> very important historic chapter closes today with the two votes, but the debate over this is just now going to go to the next chapter which is how does it play out in the presidential election year? how does it play out with the president's mood? we expect to hear from him. his campaign says he is totally vindicated and the house speaker says that you are impeached forever, and that is the debate for the people and beyond the election and to the point that

george is making earlier, the president has been acquitted by the united states senate, and double jeopardy does not apply in politics, so as the new revelations come out, the bolton booker to new e-mails or what was reported today that there may be new details, and jerry nadler said they would subpoena john bolton, and that is risky, because it is teeball for trump to say it is gratuitous and political and also risky for the senators who just voted on the president's side as the new information comes out. so we should pause and reflect on the history of today in the context of impeachment, this is over, but it is not over. >> absolutely not. laura coates, and hillary clinton just did a tweet as the president's impeachment trial began, they pledged an oath, and 52 of those chose to betray the oath, and hillary clinton writes, it is going to take all of us to restore democracy. so this is not the end of it

>> of course, and the dangerous territory that she is speaking of is partly what mitch mcconnell called it a precedent-breaking impeachment, and he meant it to his benefit, but in reality, what happens to the next president who is going to be facing impeachment, and not certain that the acquittal is on the other side of the entire endeavor and the precedent set now for the person who cannot call witnesses to try to be having exculpatory evidence coming in, and support the evidence of the benefit of the doubt. and mitt romney and it is not just that he is a republican who has gone against the party, because arguably, he does not believe that he is in the same party as trump number one, but it is the issue of what he was saying and dismissive of the dershowitz argument, the idea of the founding fathers saying that i have to have an actual list that is codified before i can find the abuse of power and he rejected it. he talked about hunter biden and maybe unsavory to use your

father's name that way, but it is not a crime and common rating that and the hype that was made from the defense of joe biden and hunter biden and talked about the idea that the reason we cannot wait for the election is because the constitution wanted it to be in the hands of the senate and remove what was partisan from the voters. and in all of those ways, he didn't just reject one theory of the republican party, but he blew it all away and in sup of he believes of his oath, and those three things will be what represents his legacy in the future and what is going to undermine the republicans or the democrats' endeavor to impeach a president under this standard. >> and rick santorum, not only did you anticipate that president trump would be fully acquitted, but that did not come close to super majorities and so a majority voted to acquit him on both counts and not only did you anticipate that but you would have voted to acquit him as well?

>> yes, i respect that people could look at the sets of situations and look at the law, in other words, look at what the constitutional standard is as happened in 1999 and people said, you know, even if we dispute the facts, and some people in 1999 said it rose to level of conviction and some not. and people can come to different conclusions, but the idea that mitt romney's decision was depositive, i don't think it is. nancy pelosi is right, donald trump has, and will be forever impeached, but bill clointon remind you that donald trump will forever be acquitted and that acquittal has meant a lot more to bill clinton than the impeachment, and that is the case here. so i think that donald trump will be re-elected which is going to make that acquittal much more demonstrative and the impeachment less important, and one other final point, because

we talk about the partisanship, and we have now gone through what, four impeachments and not once has a democrat cross the party. >> in the senate. >> and didn't cross it in the nixon thing, and all against nixon, anded even in the johns and so there have been crossovers, but it has been always a republican, and interesting thought. >> and mee nia. >> and yes, a good circle context and for donald trump and what does this mean for the re-election, because he is the first president to seek re-election with this hanging over his head, and nancy pelosi said that she does not think that impeachment is going to matter in 2020. that it is going to ride on 2020 for those individual senators possibly and thinking about susan collins up for re-election and people like cory gardner who everyone was looking at to see what they would do.

in some ways you compare what they did to mitt romney did and they are going to be facing tough elections, and tough candidates and so in that context, it is going to be interesting to watch this. and mitt romney and we came in thinking that we knew how this would happen and how they would vote, but this is a little bit of the surprise from mitt romney who has a reputation of going with the party and not, and powerful statement here to wrap his language into religion to a party who is looking at religion to sway their decisions. >> and someone who created the meme on twitter of president trump running for election in 2020, and 2024, and then going on forever. here it is. and this is what president trump just tweeted again the moment he is acquitted and he is retweeting this meme of president trump not only winning

re reelection 2024 and so if anybody thinks it is chasened or humbled being the third president in history or the only one who has votes for removal for bipartisan. >> and what is this for his behavior. >> and on there forever? >> there are republican senators who voted for acquittal, because they felt that there was no misconduct and the phone call was perfect or close it to, and this is to me an intellectually dishonest position, because what is amaze manage is the john thunes and the susan collins who say that the president has learned his lesson. no, he has not. no, he has not. he is going to do this again. he said he will do it again. and the idea that there is some chasening here is absurd. >> and certainly the twitter feed would suggest that you are right, jeffrey. president trump has now been

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rewarded! learn more at the explorer card dot com. this is cnn breaking news. welcome to the viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer and you are in the "situation room" and we are following breaking news. the u.s. senate has voted to acquit president trump for the two articles of impeachment passed by the house of representatives and bringing the his or the tor representatives and bringing the his or the toic trial to a clos but in other news, mitt romney broke party ranks and cast a guilty vote on the power of abuse. and being the first to vote against the party in an impeachment trial.