Former US President Donald Trump acquitted by a vote of 57 guilty to 43 not guilty.  [US Senate TV/Handout via Reuters]

Washington, February 13 (RHC)-- Former U.S. President Donald Trump has been acquitted on a charge of “incitement of insurrection” in relation to the January 6 riot at the United States Capitol.

After a five-day impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate, the vote was largely split along party lines with 57 lawmakers voting to convict and 43 voting to acquit.  That fell short of the two-thirds Democrats needed to convict Trump, who is the only US president to ever be impeached twice while in office.

Notably, however, seven Republican senators voted to convict the former president, the largest number of conviction votes from senators in president’s own party for impeachment in U.S. history.

This was Trump’s second impeachment trial, the only time a president has been through this process twice. Trump’s first impeachment trial, which took place in February 2020, ended in an acquittal of charges that he tried to pressure Ukraine to investigate now-President Joe Biden.

The second trial’s outcome was not a surprise as the bar to convict would have required a significant bipartisan vote at a time when the U.S. is extremely partisan – more deeply polarised politically than it has been in decades.

“This trial wasn’t about choosing country over party, even not that this was about choosing country over Donald Trump and 43 Republican members chose Trump.  They chose Trump,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said following the vote.

Trump, for his part, released a statement calling the trial “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country.”

“No president has ever gone through anything like it,” Trump added.