After the Senate voted 57-43, falling short of the 67 votes required to convict former President Donald Trump of the charge that he incited the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized Trump’s actions leading up to and following the attack.
McConnell called Trump’s behavior a “disgraceful dereliction of duty,” adding that Trump is “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day, no question about it.”
McConnell, who along with 42 other Republicans voted to acquit Trump, said the word incitement “is a specific term from the criminal law.”
“By the strict criminal standard, the president’s speech probably was not incitement,” he said.
House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team presented arguments for five days during Trump’s historic second impeachment trial. The House voted to impeach Trump in January when he was still in office.
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS NewsHour at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Follow us:
Facebook: https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newshour
Subscribe:
PBS NewsHour podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe
