Donald Trump has been acquitted by the Senate and will remain in office despite his impeachment for abuse of power.

Senators voted today on two impeachment charges against Mr Trump for the abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in connection to his dealings with Ukraine and subsequent investigation.

The Republican-controlled Senate began voting at around 9pm this evening (4pm Washington).

The first vote was 52-48 against on the charge of abuse of power, the second, on obstruction of justice, was 53-47, once again in favour of the president.

Supreme court chief justice John Roberts has read the final votes on the two charges and declared Mr Trump to be acquitted. Democrats determiend to end Mr Trump's presidency will have to wait until the November elections to vote against him.

He is the third US president in history to face and survive a Senate trial.

Mitt Romney, a prominent Republican, was the only member of his party who announced plans to vote to remove Mr Trump from office prior to the trial.

• 
  All the cringeworthy times Donald Trump made absolutely no sense on Twitter

• 
  Donald Trump labelled "stone cold idiot" after dreadful Super Bowl LIV tweet error

Mr Romney said his decision was based on an “inescapable conviction that my oath before God demanded it.” He previously said Mr Trump was “guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust”.

The charges against the president stem from his request that Ukraine investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter in an attempt to smear him during the 2020 election.

Mr Trump took action to block documents sought by the House as it investigated his impeachment including documents and testimonies.

Democrats accused Mr Trump of withholding $391 million in security aid passed by Congress to help Ukraine combat Russian-supported separatists in bid to pressure Kiev to help him smear Biden.

Mr Trump denied the accusations and has always referred to the phone call at the centre of the investigation as 'perfect'.

Most Republicans have rallied around him despite evidence from Trump's former advisers such as John Bolton which appeared to be incriminating for the 45th president of the United States.

Many of the few Republicans who said they would vote to remove Mr Trump were public about their change of heart shortly before voting started.

One such senator was Rpublican Susan Collins, who said she would vote to acquit Mr Trump  ‘believing’ he had learned his lessons from the repercussions of his dealings with Ukraine.

Source: Read Full Article