Burr, Tillis vote to acquit Trump, as Senate candidate announces how he would’ve voted
North Carolina Republican Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis voted not guilty on both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Wednesday, as the Republican-held Senate acquitted Trump in just the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history.
The Senate voted 52-48 to acquit Trump on the abuse of power charge with Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah voting to convict and all others voting with their parties. The vote was 53-47 along party lines on the obstruction of Congress charge. The Senate needed 67 guilty votes to convict and remove Trump from office.
The Democratic-controlled U.S. House passed the articles of impeachment late last year. The Senate’s trial included lengthy arguments from the House impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team as well as questions for each from senators, but did not call new witnesses or seek new documents.
Trump, a Republican, faced accusations that he withheld security aid to Ukraine in order to get the nation’s president to announce investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter and interference in the 2016 election. The second article stemmed from Trump’s refusal to let members of his administration testify before the House or turn over documents.
Burr and Tillis voted last week not to allow new witnesses, including former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, to be called during the Senate trial, effectively ending the process. House managers and Trump’s defense team delivered their closing arguments Monday, and some senators have delivered remarks on impeachment in the days since.
Neither Burr nor Tillis gave a speech on the Senate floor in the days leading up to the vote. In recent days, some Republican senators have characterized Trump’s conduct as wrong and inappropriate though not meeting the bar for removal from office. Burr and Tillis have not characterized Trump’s conduct that way.
“To remove a U.S. President from office, for the first time in our history, on anything less than overwhelming evidence of ‘Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors’ would effectively overturn the will of the American people. For these reasons, I voted to acquit the President on both articles of impeachment,” Burr said in a statement after the votes.
Said Tillis in a statement after the vote: “This entire impeachment effort was motivated by partisan politics and a desire to remove the President from office instead of allowing the American people to decide his fate at the ballot box in November. Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi and House Democrats denied the President basic due process rights from the start and ultimately presented a weak case for removal that was rejected by the Senate. The President has been acquitted and we now need to move on. I’m committed to continuing my work to deliver more results for North Carolinians to keep our economy and military strong.”
After the vote Wednesday, Tillis posted on social media a video that shows him tearing the articles of impeachment in half, The News & Observer reported. It was a nod to Pelosi tearing up Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.
“Two can play this game, @SpeakerPelosi,” he tweeted. “Glad to finally put impeachment in the rear view mirror so we can get back to work for the people of North Carolina.”
Romney, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, said Trump’s act was “extreme and egregious.”
“Were I to ignore the evidence that has been presented and disregard what I believe my oath and the Constitution demands of me for the sake of a partisan end, it would, I fear, expose my character to history’s rebuke and the censor of my own conscience,” Romney said in a Senate floor speech hours before the vote.
North Carolina’s 13-member delegation in the House — 10 Republicans and three Democrats — voted along party lines on both Trump articles of impeachment.
Trump is the third president to be impeached by the House. Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton also were not convicted and removed from office by the Senate.
Senate campaign issue
Tillis, who is up for re-election this year, has been outspoken in his defense of Trump, who endorsed Tillis in June. He has criticized the House’s handling of the impeachment investigation for months, arguing that the process was not fair to Trump and that Democrats were determined for years to impeach the president.
In September, as the House began an impeachment investigation, Tillis said Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president did not “rise to the level of what the House has chosen to do.” In December, before the House passed the articles, Tillis said he was a “definite no” on impeachment.
On Wednesday morning, hours before the vote, Tillis’ campaign released a digital ad highlighting his opposition to impeachment and calling out Democratic challengers Erica Smith and Cal Cunningham for their support of investigations and removal.
“I think people in North Carolina are sick of this,” Tillis said in an interview clip to start the ad.
Cunningham, a lawyer and former Army prosecutor, previously called for witnesses and documents at the Senate trial. On Wednesday afternoon, before the vote, Cunningham said he would vote to convict Trump if he were in the Senate.
“As a prosecutor trained to listen to the facts, I’m appalled the Senate did not hear from witnesses or request documents. As a North Carolinian who aspires to represent our state in the Senate, I’m appalled by its members’ abdication of their duty — in particular Senator Thom Tillis, who raised his hand and swore to be an impartial juror yet announced his judgment months ago and voted to block witnesses and documents,” Cunningham said in the statement.
“... After considering the evidence and the constitutional arguments on both sides, if I were a member of the U.S. Senate I would vote to convict Donald Trump.”
Smith, a state senator, said she preferred that Trump resign before the impeachment process, but said the president was guilty.
“I would have voted to convict on both counts,” she said in an email minutes after the vote.
Mecklenburg County Commissioner Trevor Fuller, another candidate for the Democratic nomination, said last year that he felt that “the president is becoming more lawless by the day.”
Clinton impeachment vote
During Clinton’s 1999 impeachment trial, North Carolina’s senators voted along party lines. Sen. Jesse Helms, a Republican, voted guilty on both articles of impeachment against Clinton, a Democrat. Sen. John Edwards, a Democrat, voted not guilty on the articles of perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton was acquitted on both articles.
Burr, a member of the House at the time, voted for two articles of impeachment and against two articles of impeachment. Burr was the only member of the 12-member North Carolina delegation — six Republicans and six Democrats — to not vote the party line on all four articles.
The two articles Burr voted for passed the House. The two he voted against failed.
Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has largely avoided speaking about impeachment publicly, often citing his work on the committee dealing with issues around Russia, Ukraine and 2016 election interference.
But during an appearance on former Gov. Pat McCrory’s radio show, Burr said that even if Trump engaged in a quid pro quo — that is, he traded investigations for military aid and a White House visit — that did not rise to the level of removal from office, a line of defense used by Trump’s legal team in the Senate trial.
“Even if the president said this, it does not raise to the level of removal from office, which is a sacred thing because the American people have duly elected him,” Burr said.
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This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Burr, Tillis vote to acquit Trump, as Senate candidate announces how he would’ve voted."
