‘Political cowardice’: US reacts to Trump impeachment acquittal - Al Jazeera English | Canada News Media
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‘Political cowardice’: US reacts to Trump impeachment acquittal – Al Jazeera English

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Democratic Party legislators and other public figures in the United States have reacted with indignation to the results of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, after the US Senate found Trump not guilty of “inciting” a deadly riot on Capitol Hill last month.

In a Saturday afternoon vote that fell largely along party lines, the Senate voted 57-43 against impeaching the former Republican president.

The US House of Representatives impeached Trump in January for “incitement of insurrection” in relation to the deadly storming of the Capitol by a mob of his supporters.

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, who voted to impeach Trump on Saturday, slammed his Republican colleagues for failing to convict the ex-president, accusing them of putting “the fleeting politics of the moment” ahead of their oath to defend the US Constitution.

“In private, they complain about feeling trapped by President Trump’s poisonous grip on the Republican Party and yet refused to free themselves by voting to bar him from running for future office,” Menendez said in a statement after the vote.

“This is pure political cowardice and I fear their refusal to hold Donald Trump accountable will have lasting negative and even dangerous consequences for the future of our country.”

The US Senate voted to acquit former President Donald Trump by a vote of 57 to 43 on Saturday [US Senate TV/Handout via Reuters]

Seven Republicans did join the Democrats in voting in favour of convicting the former president, but that number was far short of the two-third majority required to find Trump guilty of inciting the insurrection at the US Capitol.

Shortly after Saturday’s verdict, President Joe Biden issued a statement noting that the number of Republicans who voted to convict Trump was a record.

“While the final vote did not lead to a conviction, the substance of the charge is not in dispute,” Biden said, adding, “This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant.”

‘Witch hunt’

Trump’s legal team had rejected Democrats’ effort to impeach the former president, calling the trial “ludicrous” and unconstitutional because Trump is no longer in office.

“Mr Trump is innocent of the charges against him,” said Trump lawyer Michael van der Veen in his closing arguments on Saturday afternoon. “The act of incitement never happened.”

In a statement after the vote, Trump – the only US president to ever be impeached twice – called the Senate trial “yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country” and promised his Make America Great Again movement would continue.

Other Republican legislators, as well as Trump supporters in the US and abroad, welcomed the results of the impeachment vote.

“I was against the Senate taking jurisdiction in this trial from the start,” said Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who voted to acquit Trump and said the incitement charge “was merely a rushed act of partisan retribution”.

“NOT GUILTY. Now maybe it would be nice if the senators stopped putting on show trials for free air time and actually started working for the American people for a change,” Donald Trump Jr tweeted.

“Thank goodness the second attempt to impeach Trump is over,” right-wing British politician Nigel Farage also said on Twitter. “The Donald can now fight again.”

Bipartisan effort

But the House impeachment managers, who led the prosecution against Trump during the Senate trial, said their effort was a success despite the results.

“This was the most bipartisan presidential impeachment event in the history of the country,” House manager Jamie Raskin said during a news conference after the vote.

“We have a clear and convincing majority of members of Congress that the president actually incited violent insurrection against the Union and against the Congress,” he said.

Seven Republicans joined Democrats in voting to convict Trump, including Senator Ben Sasse, who said he had promised to “always vote [his] conscience even if it was against the partisan stream”.

“I cannot go back on my word and Congress cannot lower our standards on such a grave matter, simply because it is politically convenient,” Sasse said in a statement.

Some political observers criticised the Democratic Party, however, for failing to call witnesses in the trial after House impeachment managers indicated they wanted to compel witnesses earlier on Saturday.

Instead, a deal was reached between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate to enter a statement by Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler detailing a conversation between Trump and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy during the riot.

But Raskin said that “no number of witnesses” would have convinced enough Republicans to vote for impeachment.

“They were hinging it on a matter of law,” he said during the news conference, referring to a claim made by Republican lawmakers that Trump could not be impeached since he is not in office. That argument has been rejected by constitutional scholars.

Party divided

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voted against impeaching Trump. But moments later, he said on the Senate floor that, “there is no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day”.

McConnell justified his vote by saying Trump could not be impeached because he is no longer president.

But the Kentucky legislator blocked efforts to start the impeachment trial in January when Trump was still in the White House – a fact that drew widespread criticism from Democrats and other observers.

“It is so pathetic that Senator McConnell kept the Senate shut down so that the Senate could not receive the article of impeachment and has used that as his excuse for not voting to convict Donald Trump,” Democratic House Speak Nancy Pelosi said.

“It is truly sad and dangerous that only 7 Republicans voted to convict a president who is promoting a Big Lie, conspiracy theories and violence, and is aggressively trying to destroy American democracy,” Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted.

Al Jazeera’s Andy Gallacher, reporting from West Palm Beach, Florida, said most Trump supporters have remained staunchly in the former president’s corner and were not swayed by any of the allegations presented in the US Senate trial against him.

Gallacher said a struggle is under way between establishment Republicans and pro-Trump Republicans over the party’s future.

“Donald Trump continues to cast a long and dark shadow over this party,” he reported.

“Mitch McConnell’s speech, as powerful as it was, doesn’t really put off the statement that this is Donald Trump’s Republican Party … It seems to belong to one man for now.”

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Trump is consistently inconsistent on abortion and reproductive rights

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CHICAGO (AP) — Donald Trump has had a tough time finding a consistent message to questions about abortion and reproductive rights.

The former president has constantly shifted his stances or offered vague, contradictory and at times nonsensical answers to questions on an issue that has become a major vulnerability for Republicans in this year’s election. Trump has been trying to win over voters, especially women, skeptical about his views, especially after he nominated three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the nationwide right to abortion two years ago.

The latest example came this week when the Republican presidential nominee said some abortion laws are “too tough” and would be “redone.”

“It’s going to be redone,” he said during a Fox News town hall that aired Wednesday. “They’re going to, you’re going to, you end up with a vote of the people. They’re too tough, too tough. And those are going to be redone because already there’s a movement in those states.”

Trump did not specify if he meant he would take some kind of action if he wins in November, and he did not say which states or laws he was talking about. He did not elaborate on what he meant by “redone.”

He also seemed to be contradicting his own stand when referencing the strict abortion bans passed in Republican-controlled states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Trump recently said he would vote against a constitutional amendment on the Florida ballot that is aimed at overturning the state’s six-week abortion ban. That decision came after he had criticized the law as too harsh.

Trump has shifted between boasting about nominating the justices who helped strike down federal protections for abortion and trying to appear more neutral. It’s been an attempt to thread the divide between his base of anti-abortion supporters and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights.

About 6 in 10 Americans think their state should generally allow a person to obtain a legal abortion if they don’t want to be pregnant for any reason, according to a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Voters in seven states, including some conservative ones, have either protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to restrict them in statewide votes over the past two years.

Trump also has been repeating the narrative that he returned the question of abortion rights to states, even though voters do not have a direct say on that or any other issue in about half the states. This is particularly true for those living in the South, where Republican-controlled legislatures, many of which have been gerrymandered to give the GOP disproportionate power, have enacted some of the strictest abortion bans since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Currently, 13 states have banned abortion at all stages of pregnancy, while four more ban it after six weeks — before many women know they’re pregnant.

Meanwhile, anti-abortion groups and their Republican allies in state governments are using an array of strategies to counter proposed ballot initiatives in at least eight states this year.

Here’s a breakdown of Trump’s fluctuating stances on reproductive rights.

Flip-flopping on Florida

On Tuesday, Trump claimed some abortion laws are “too tough” and would be “redone.”

But in August, Trump said he would vote against a state ballot measure that is attempting to repeal the six-week abortion ban passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

That came a day after he seemed to indicate he would vote in favor of the measure. Trump previously called Florida’s six-week ban a “terrible mistake” and too extreme. In an April Time magazine interview, Trump repeated that he “thought six weeks is too severe.”

Trump on vetoing a national ban

Trump’s latest flip-flopping has involved his views on a national abortion ban.

During the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social that he would veto a national abortion ban: “Everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it.”

This came just weeks after Trump repeatedly declined to say during the presidential debate with Democrat Kamala Harris whether he would veto a national abortion ban if he were elected.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, said in an interview with NBC News before the presidential debate that Trump would veto a ban. In response to debate moderators prompting him about Vance’s statement, Trump said: “I didn’t discuss it with JD, in all fairness. And I don’t mind if he has a certain view, but I don’t think he was speaking for me.”

‘Pro-choice’ to 15-week ban

Trump’s shifting abortion policy stances began when the former reality TV star and developer started flirting with running for office.

He once called himself “very pro-choice.” But before becoming president, Trump said he “would indeed support a ban,” according to his book “The America We Deserve,” which was published in 2000.

In his first year as president, he said he was “pro-life with exceptions” but also said “there has to be some form of punishment” for women seeking abortions — a position he quickly reversed.

At the 2018 annual March for Life, Trump voiced support for a federal ban on abortion on or after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

More recently, Trump suggested in March that he might support a national ban on abortions around 15 weeks before announcing that he instead would leave the matter to the states.

Views on abortion pills, prosecuting women

In the Time interview, Trump said it should be left up to the states to decide whether to prosecute women for abortions or to monitor women’s pregnancies.

“The states are going to make that decision,” Trump said. “The states are going to have to be comfortable or uncomfortable, not me.”

Democrats have seized on the comments he made in 2016, saying “there has to be some form of punishment” for women who have abortions.

Trump also declined to comment on access to the abortion pill mifepristone, claiming that he has “pretty strong views” on the matter. He said he would make a statement on the issue, but it never came.

Trump responded similarly when asked about his views on the Comstock Act, a 19th century law that has been revived by anti-abortion groups seeking to block the mailing of mifepristone.

IVF and contraception

In May, Trump said during an interview with a Pittsburgh television station that he was open to supporting regulations on contraception and that his campaign would release a policy on the issue “very shortly.” He later said his comments were misinterpreted.

In the KDKA interview, Trump was asked, “Do you support any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception?”

“We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly,” Trump responded.

Trump has not since released a policy statement on contraception.

Trump also has offered contradictory statements on in vitro fertilization.

During the Fox News town hall, which was taped Tuesday, Trump declared that he is “the father of IVF,” despite acknowledging during his answer that he needed an explanation of IVF in February after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law.

Trump said he instructed Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., to “explain IVF very quickly” to him in the aftermath of the ruling.

As concerns over access to fertility treatments rose, Trump pledged to promote IVF by requiring health insurance companies or the federal government to pay for it. Such a move would be at odds with the actions of much of his own party.

Even as the Republican Party has tried to create a national narrative that it is receptive to IVF, these messaging efforts have been undercut by GOP state lawmakers, Republican-dominated courts and anti-abortion leaders within the party’s ranks, as well as opposition to legislative attempts to protect IVF access.

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The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Saskatchewan Party’s Scott Moe, NDP’s Carla Beck react to debate |

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Saskatchewan‘s two main political party leaders faced off in the only televised debate in the lead up to the provincial election on Oct. 28. Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe and NDP Leader Carla Beck say voters got a chance to see their platforms. (Oct. 17, 2024)

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Saskatchewan political leaders back on campaign trail after election debate

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REGINA – Saskatchewan‘s main political leaders are back on the campaign trail today after hammering each other in a televised debate.

Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe is set to make an announcement in Moose Jaw.

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck is to make stops in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

During Wednesday night’s debate, Beck emphasized her plan to make life more affordable and said people deserve better than an out-of-touch Saskatchewan Party government.

Moe said his party wants to lower taxes and put money back into people’s pockets.

Election day is Oct. 28.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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