Trump acquitted of allegations that he sparked riots on January 6th in the Capitol

The Senate voted by 57 votes to declare the former president guilty and 43 not guilty. Since 67 votes -- or two-thirds -- were required in a trial in the Senate, former President Trump was acquitted.

House of Representatives prosecutors and the defence side presented their closing arguments for and against Saturday afternoon.

Prior to that, the Senate reached an agreement not to call witnesses in the trial of former President Trump, paving the way for presenting final arguments.

But the Senate was initially involved in the confusion over the issue. Senators voted to assess the possibility of calling witnesses to court.

The last-minute clash of witnesses was the result of comments made Friday evening by a Republican House of Representatives lawmaker about a hot call during the day of riots between Mr. Trump and the minority leader of this room, Kevin McCarty, who Democrats say is evidence of Mr. Trump's indifference to violence in the Capitol.

Initially in the Senate, whether to be called to testify to lawmaker Jaime Herrera Beyutler, one of the 10 Republicans who voted to officially file a charge against Mr. Trump in the House of Representatives. In a statement late Friday, she said Mr. Trump had rejected a prayer of Mr. McCarty to stop the protesters. The Democrats consider it a key test confirming that President” deliberately abandoned office as Commander-in-chief”.

The trial suddenly stopped Saturday morning and even senators seemed confused about the next steps.

Meanwhile, Republican leader Mitch McConnell has already made it clear that he will vote to free Mr. Trump from prosecution, according to a person aware of his position. From this standpoint, the views of Republican leaders may affect other members of his party.

While the Democrats are expected to vote on impeaching the former president, the likelihood is that he will be declared innocent in the room of 100 members divided by 50 to 50 sides. In order for Mr. Trump to plead guilty to the charges brought against him, two third votes of Senate members would be needed.

The trial in the Senate has highlighted the extraordinary danger facing lawmakers on January 6th, while Mr. Trump called on his followers to march towards the Capitol in an effort to prevent lawmakers from detifying his daily to the Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential elections. As a result, five people lost their lives.

Film footage taken by security cameras that were presented during the trial process showed that protesters were getting too close and putting lawmakers at risk while they were being evacuated by the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Also targeted by the protesters was Vice President Mike Pence, who earlier that day had rejected Mr. Trump's request to intervene in the procedures for certified election results.

In a Twitter post, Mr. Trump criticised Mr. Trump for lack “guxing” shortly after Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville had announced Mr. Trump was being evacuated for security reasons.

Mr. Trump's lawyers gave conflicting answers Friday when asked whether Mr. Trump knew Mr. Pence was in danger when he published his post. Several Republican senators said they still had questions about Mr. Trump's role in the violent attack on the Capitol.

The question is what was the president's purpose? Only the president could answer that. And the president chose not to do it”, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy told reporters. He added that he had not yet decided how to vote. Former President Trump rejected the prosecution's request to testify in his trial. /voa