Donald Trump was acquitted by U.S. Senators.
Who voted Saturday on his responsibility for the violent attacks and chaos on Capitol Hill in Washington.. On January 6.
Follow the reaction to the verdict in our live feed.
1. U.S. Senate acquits Donald
Trump of inciting insurgency charges
For the second time, acquitted. Former U.S. President Donald Trump escaped a guilty verdict on Saturday, February 13.
Following a historic trial in the U.S. Senate. Which tried him for his role in the January 6
violence on Capitol Hill.
The senators were a majority - 57 out of 100 - in favor of convicting the billionaire.
But it would have taken two-thirds of the upper house to reach a guilty verdict that could have been followed by a sentence of ineligibility.
The base of the elected
Republicans held, which shows the hold that Donald Trump still has on the
party.
"Our magnificent, historic and patriotic movement, Make America Great Again, has only just begun." Donald Trump reacted in a statement, once again posing as the victim of a "witch hunt".
For Donald Trump, this is the second acquittal in as
many impeachment proceedings.
In his first reaction to the verdict, the 74-year-old former president set his sights on the future.
"In the coming months, I will have lot of things to share with you and
look forward to continuing our incredible journey for the greatness of
America," he said.
- A bitter taste
But for some Republicans, the political sequence that began in November with the challenge to Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election.,
And culminated with the events on Capitol
Hill leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
Mitch McConnell, an influential Republican leader in the Senate, epitomizes this unease.
A supporter of Donald Trump during his four-year presidency, he did not join his seven colleagues who voted for guilt.
For him, the Senate was
not competent in impeachment proceedings, since the real estate magnate left
office.
"There is no doubt, none, that President Trump is, in fact and morally... Responsible for having provoked the events of that day" of January 6.
He
nevertheless asserted in the moments following the vote.
The reaction of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a figure of the left:
"It's really sad and dangerous that only seven Republicans voted to condemn a president who has promoted big lies.
Conspiracy theories and violence, and who is fiercely trying
to destroy American democracy."
2. Donald Trump acquitted: Consequences
for the American Republicans?
The acquittal of former president Donald Trump at the end of his trial for "inciting insurrection" in the Senate on Saturday illustrates.
How great his influence remains within the Republican Party, even if some of its leading figures have distanced themselves. The race is open for 2024.
The U.S. Senate acquitted Donald Trump on Saturday, February 13 in his second impeachment trial.
Even if the suspense was almost nil, the acquittal is obviously a relief for Donald Trump.
In the short term, this vote gives him the opportunity to take up one of his favorite campaign arguments:
To pose as a martyr, as a victim of an
incessant "witch hunt".
The only president in history to be indicted twice, he is also the only one to have been acquitted twice.
"This can be a rallying cry: hammering that he was targeted by the left and by the press in an unfair manner,"
says Capri Cafaro, a former
Democrat and American University professor.
Reacting to the Senate's verdict, Donald Trump seemed to be setting a date for the future.
"Our
magnificent, historic, and patriotic movement, Make America Great Again, is just
beginning," he said.
- More complicated equation
But the equation, which worked during his four years in power has become more complicated.
Since the dark day of January 6 and the
violence perpetrated by his supporters.
Many republican leaders have distanced
themselves. Which is a major handicap
for a possible reconquest, even if its ability to galvanize the crowds remains
a major asset.
Especially since the next presidential deadline of 2024 is already whetting appetites.
One of the
possible contenders for the Republican nomination.. Nikki Haley, has already
cut off all ties and felt that he was out of the running for the upcoming
deadlines.
"He took a path he shouldn't have taken, and we shouldn't have followed him and we shouldn't have listened to him.
And we must never let that happen again".
- Republican Party, the big construction site
After being tidied up - sometimes reluctantly but always obediently - behind Donald Trump for four years.. the Grand Old Party is going through a period of immense upheaval.
A handful of elected officials are shouting loud and clear that Donald Trump's
place cannot be questioned and that he is the natural candidate for 2024.
"This party is his. It belongs to no one else," said a few days ago the Republican elected Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Who at the time supported the theses of
the extreme right-wing movement QAnon.
But many of the party's leaders want a new start.
Confronted with his polls, which remain flattering
for Donald Trump, they wonder how to turn the page: Brutally? Slowly?
Imperceptibly?
Beyond the trauma of January 6, the party holds him responsible for the loss of the Senate: his refusal to accept his defeat for more than two months put the "GOP" in a shaky position.
During the two partial senatorial elections at the
beginning of January, won by the Democrats.
- Towards a new center-right party?
There remains one point of concern for the party's strategists:
support for Trump in his impeachment
trial.., guided by the desire not to anger the former president, could have an
electoral cost.
"The senators who voted for acquittal may have protected themselves from perilous primaries against more extreme candidates within their party.
But they also
made themselves more vulnerable in the real election," says Wendy
Schiller, Brown University.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell voted to acquit, hiding behind questions of law.
But to
immediately declare that Donald Trump is "factually" and
"morally" responsible for the January 6 violence.
A hundred former American officials have been circulating the idea in recent days of the creation of a new center-right party.
That would bring together Republicans wishing to make a clean break with Trumpism.
But the chances of breaking the American model, which has always revolved around two parties, seems extremely slim.
