Trump stays in office, Senate acquits him of impeachment charges

To remove the sitting US President from office, a two-third majority of the 67 Senators was required.

Despite presented with evidence that Trump sought Ukraine's help to get his political opponent Joe Biden investigated, Republicans stayed together.

The first charge, abuse of power, was defeated by a 52-48 tally and the other one by 53 to 47 votes.

Notably, the final day of Trump's trial was laced with drama and a bit of surprise. Mitt Romney, the Republican from Utah, became the first-ever Senator in the history to vote against the President of his own party.

Romney, a long-time critic of Trump, voted in favor of his impeachment on article 1 (power abuse) but held him not guilty on the second accusation.

To recall, the formal impeachment inquiry was launched by Democrats in September, a month after an anonymous whistleblower accused Trump of seeking help from a foreign country to win the upcoming 2020 election.

The deposition and fact-finding inquiries lasted two months. A couple of White House representatives testified before Congress, defying Trump.

On December 18, 2019, he was formally impeached in a historic vote.

During the trial, Republicans argued that if Trump is, in fact, impeached, it would snatch liberty from American voters on whether to send the President to the White House, again or not.

But Democrats continued to claim that Trump would find a way to influence elections.

Democrat Kamala Harris said when framers wrote the Constitution they didn't think someone like Trump would be elected.

Democrats' hopes were doused in the trial. They expected that like Romney, moderate Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, would vote to convict Trump. But they didn't.

Likewise, Republicans were banking that three Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Doug Jones of Alabama, would vote for his acquittal, but they stayed with their part.

Celebrating the outcome, Press secretary Stephanie Grisham called Romney "one failed Republican presidential candidate".

"Today, the sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the full vindication and exoneration of President Donald J. Trump," Grisham said.

However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose turbulent relationship with Trump was on full display at the State Of The Union Address, said he has been "impeached for life".