How some senators explained their votes on impeachment

WASHINGTON — The Senate Republican majority on Wednesday acquitted President Donald Trump of both articles of impeachment, but he didn’t escape disapproval for his actions in Ukraine from many senators.

Over the past three days, 46 of the 78 senators who rose on the Senate to explain the votes they would take took Trump to task for pressuring Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, calling his actions at least inappropriate.

Six of those senators were Republicans, who described Trump’s actions in Ukraine as “an appalling abuse,” “inappropriate,” “improper,” and “shameful and wrong” — but only one of them — Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) — voted to convict the president of abuse of power.

The others — Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ind.) — said House Democrats ran a sham process and failed to meet the high bar of proving impeachable offenses.

Here are highlights of the speeches Wednesday by three closely watched senators.

Romney — Yes

Romney, who has challenged Trump’s moral fitness to be president since the 2016 campaign, cast the vote that gave Democrats a bipartisan minority in favor of convicting the president for abuse of power. Romney called his aye vote “the most difficult decision I have ever faced.” Romney voted against the charge of obstruction of Congress. “The grave question the Constitution tasks senators to answer is whether the president committed an act so extreme and egregious that it rises to the level of a high crime and misdemeanor,” Romney said. “Yes, he did.” He explained: “The president asked a foreign government to investigate his political rival. The president withheld vital military funds from that government. The president delayed funds for an American ally at war with Russian invaders. The president's purpose was personal and political. Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust. What he did was not perfect.”

Jones – Yes

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who represents a Deep South state where Trump enjoys a 60% approval rating, said he had not run for Senate to participate in an impeachment trial, but would not shirk his duty. He said the evidence had holes in it but was nonetheless convincing. A key piece of evidence, he said, was when Trump, citing the Constitution, said, “We have Article II, and I can do anything I want.” That, Jones said, “explains the president's actions towards Ukraine and Congress.” But Jones added, “The evidence clearly proves that the president used the weight of his office and the weight of the United States government to seek to coerce a foreign government to interfere in our election for his personal political benefit. His actions were more than simply inappropriate. They were an abuse of power.”

Alexander — No

Alexander, who is retiring this year, had raised Democrats’ hopes that he might vote to convict Trump of abuse of power. But he didn’t. “It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage this investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law,” Alexander said. “But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year's ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate. The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. I believe that the Constitution clearly provides that the people should make that decision.”