Donald Trump’s impeachment trial has come to a close, ending with his acquittal. Although the uncertainty with his place in office is over for now, it leaves many questions lingering about the future. 

Trump was the third president in history to be impeached, and he was charged with two articles, abuse of power and obstruction of the Congress. The allegations against Trump stated that he purposely withheld military aid and that he held a meeting to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden and his son. The latter served on a Ukrainian energy company while his father was in office, which caused Trump concern. 

After the House voted to impeach the President, they rushed the impeachment into trial with the Senate, causing them to not be able to obtain all of the evidence they had hoped in time. The House’s requests for evidence and speakers were repeatedly denied by the Senate, which currently leans Republican. This makes this trial unique among the three others, as it is the first in United States history without any witnesses testifying. 

67 votes were needed to convict and remove the president. All 47 Democrats in the Senate voted to convict on the first article, abuse of power. Republican Mitt Romney (R-Utah) voted to convict on this charge as well. The remaining Republicans voted to acquit and that majority won out. 

On the second charge, obstruction of congress, no Senators broke their party lines when voting, and Trump was acquitted on this as well. 

While there are many divided emotions on the outcome of the trial, with the upcoming election, the people will ultimately get their say when voting to reelect Trump or not. The precedent that this trial has set will certainly be seen in future years, especially with the lack of evidence able to have been shown.