After Acquittal, Daines Says Supporting Impeachment Ignores the Voices of Montanans

On January 5, US Senator Steve Daines voted to acquit President Trump of impeachment during the Senate trial.

Daines released a video statement after the vote to explain his decision.

“I voted to acquit President Trump of the most partisan impeachment in our nation’s history,” Daines stated. “Never has the US Senate been faced with articles of impeachment that allege no crimes, and never have we seen such a partisan impeachment process. This has always been about overturning the 2016 election and trying to severely impact the 2020 election.”

Daines remarked that President Trump won in Montana by over 20 points in 2016.

“Montana has overwhelming opposed his impeachment and stands with President Trump,” Daines said in his statement. “Supporting this impeachment means ignoring the voices of Montanans who voted for President Trump in the last election, and it means silencing Montanans who plan to vote for President Trump in 2020. The answer is an election, not an impeachment.”

Daines also delivered a speech on the Senate floor in which he stated his case for acquittal, citing the partisan nature of the impeachment.

“Never before have we seen such a partisan presidential impeachment process. In 1974, when Nixon faced impeachment, 177 House Republicans joined Democrats in support of the impeachment inquiry. During Clinton’s impeachment, 31 Democrats joined House Republicans,” Daines said in his speech.

“But with President Trump, there were zero. Not one Republican supported it. In fact, some Democrats opposed it. To be clear, there was bipartisan opposition. This impeachment is an unprecedented, purely partisan threat to the Constitution.”

Before closing his remarks, Daines called for the following phrase to be “seared in our minds forever”:

“Impeachment must never ever again be used as a partisan weapon.”

The Senate voted 48-52 in favor of conviction on abuse of power, and 47-53 in favor of conviction on obstruction of Congress. 67 Senate votes are needed to remove the President from office.