U.S. Reps Suozzi, Rice Decry Trump Acquittal

WASHINGTON, DC — Nassau County’s Democratic U.S. representatives Thomas Suozzi and Kathleen Rice decried the acquittal of former President Donald Trump on Saturday for inciting an insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, while lauding the Republican senators who broke ranks.

The Senate voted 57-43 to acquit Trump, with only seven Republican senators joining with Democrats to convict Trump. The seven included former presidential candidate Sen. Mitt Romney.

“I was there in the House Chamber January 6th, and if you can’t impeach a President for what he did here, I don’t know what would qualify,” Suozzi said in a statement provided to Patch.

Suozzi went on to say that he applauded the seven Republican senators who voted to impeach Trump for putting “country first.”

“Future generations will note where we all stood during this important moment in our nation’s history,” said Suozzi, whose district which runs from Bayside, Queens to Smithtown. “We must continue working to move our country forward.”

Rice also released a statement on the Senate vote calling out its members for leaving the United States “vulnerable to future attacks” for failing to hold Trump accountable.

She commended the House Impeachment managers for doing an “admirable job,” and “in compelling fashion, laid out a damning indictment of Trump’s guilt.”

Rice said the Republicans who took a stand “did the right thing,” before warning, “those that didn’t will forever be on the wrong side of history.”

Trump is the only president in U.S. history to be acquitted twice on impeachment charges.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Jan. 6 a day that will live on as a “day of infamy” in U.S. history, CNN reported.

“The failure to convict Donald Trump will live on as a vote of infamy in the history of the U.S. Senate,” he said.

Trump called the impeachment trial a “witch hunt” and he told supporters after his acquittal that their work has only begun, “and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future,” NPR reported.