Trump Impeachment: Sinema Votes To Convict; McSally To Acquit
One of Arizona’s U.S. senators voted to acquit President Trump in his impeachment trial today. The other voted to convict.
Arizona Democrat Kyrsten Sinema voted to convict President Trump on both articles of impeachment.
In a statement, Sinema said the president’s withholding of military aid to Ukraine in order to benefit his re-election was “dangerous to the fundamental principles of American democracy.”
She also said White House attorneys “failed to assure the American people that this behavior will not continue and that future national security decisions will be made free from personal interests.”
“Future presidents—of both parties—will use this case as a guide to avoid transparency and accountability to the American people. That should be gravely concerning to all of us,” Sinema said.
Sinema said little publicly during the impeachment process, and along with Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Doug Jones of Alabama was seen as a Democrat who might vote to acquit. In the end, all Democrats voted to convict Trump on both articles of impeachment. Of the Republicans, only Utah’s Mitt Romney voted to convict on one of the articles.
Arizona Republican Martha McSally’s vote to acquit was less of a mystery. She told GOP activists in December she did not think Trump abused his power and unlike Sinema, she voted against hearing from witnesses in the Senate trial that ended Wednesday.
McSally’s statement said “Even if all the House Democrats allege is accurate, even if John Bolton supports their allegations in his book, even if other negative information comes out in the future, this does not rise to anywhere near the level of throwing the president out of office or off the ballot for the first time in American history.”
She called Trump’s actions “inappropriate” but also criticized how House Democrats handled the process.
