US President Joe Biden acknowledged Saturday night that the acquittal of Donald Trump in the impeachment trial against him shows that “democracy is fragile” and, therefore, called on all Americans to “defend the truth and defeat lies”.

Only by using the truth, Biden argued, will the US be able to end the “non-civil war” between Democrats and Republicans and “heal the soul of the nation.”

“This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. We must always defend it. We must always be vigilant. Such violence and extremism have no place in the United States and each of us has a duty and responsibility as Americans. , and especially as leaders, to defend the truth and defeat lies, “he said.

Biden, who came to power on January 20, issued the statement hours after the US Senate acquitted Trump of “inciting an insurrection” in the January 6 assault on the Capitol, in which five people were killed.

The final score of the vote was with 57 senators in favor of the conviction and 43 against, insufficient figures for the Democrats who needed a majority of 67 votes to sanction the former president, something that from the beginning seemed highly unlikely.

Yet seven Republicans voted to convict Trump for “inciting an insurrection”: Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, Bill Cassidy, Pat Toomey and Richard Burr.

International politics analyst José Rivera analyzes the political impact after the acquittal in the Senate in the second political trial.

Therefore, despite the acquittal, it is the presidential impeachment that has received the most bipartisan support of the four in US history, a list that includes the trials against Andrew Johnson (1865-1869), Bill Clinton (1993 -2001) and the two against Trump.

In this regard, Biden highlighted the support of several Republicans for the conviction and argued that, although the final vote did not lead to a punishment for Trump, “the content of the position is not in dispute.”

For Biden, no one doubts the role that the former president played in encouraging his supporters to storm the Capitol, an aspect that the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, highlighted during his final speech on Saturday, when he said that Trump was ” practically and morally responsible “for what happened.

Former President Donald Trump escaped sanction by Congress for the second time and keeps his political aspirations alive.

Biden, a centrist Democrat, came to power with the difficult task of uniting the country and ending the polarization that has dominated American politics for the past few years.

Trump’s impeachment lasted only five days, as both parties had opted for a swift process without witnesses.

The process will go down in history in two ways: because it made Trump the first American president to face and be acquitted in two political trials – after the one held a year ago for his pressure on Ukraine – and because he had never before undergone a trial. “impeachment” to a president when he is no longer in power.

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