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In a partially chaotic session, the American Senate acquitted former President Donald Trump, 74, on Saturday.
As expected, the Chamber of Congress, which acts as the court, failed to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary for a conviction.
57 Senators supported the indictment against Trump, including seven Republicans.
43 voted with "No".
Democrats and Republicans each have 50 senators.
On January 13, the democratically dominated House of Representatives indicted Trump, then still President.
The accusation: "incitement to riot".
Trump was responsible for the violent storming of the Capitol a week earlier.
In a speech to his supporters on January 6th, Trump had once again untruthfully spoken of a fraud in the presidential election, in which he was defeated.
While Congress met in the Capitol to certify the election, Trump appealed to his fans: "If you don't fight like the devil, you will have no more land." A little later, the pro-Trump mob invaded the Capitol.
Five people, including a police officer, were killed.
The last of five days of negotiations in the Senate was partly unorganized and sometimes chaotic.
The Democrats made two sudden U-turns.
On Saturday morning they had expected a swift conclusion.
Closing arguments by prosecutors and defense counsel, followed by a vote, was the original plan.
The Senate prepared for a weekend and a week without meetings.
A controversial phone call almost brings the turning point
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But then the so-called impeachment managers suddenly requested a witness hearing.
Background: Shortly before, a statement by Republican MP Jaime Herrera Beutler had become known.
Beutler weighed heavily on Trump.
The Republican minority leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, told her that Trump had shown sympathy for the attackers in a phone call during the storming of the Capitol.
Accordingly, McCarthy tried to convince Trump on January 6th to call on the attackers to withdraw from the Capitol.
Trump refused to do so and initially blamed antifa activists for the violence.
When McCarthy rejected this and stated that they were Trump supporters, the then president is said to have said: "Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the election than you are."
The claim is remarkable given that then Vice President Mike Pence was in the Capitol at the time.
In accordance with his official duties, Pence chaired the November 3 presidential certification session - the session with which Congress sealed Trump's defeat and Joe Biden's victory.
That's why Trump attacked his loyal squire Pence that day on Twitter.
Parts of the pro-Trump mob chanted: "Hang Mike Pence!" A symbolic gallows was already set up.
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A summons from MPs Beutler, as requested by the Democrats on Saturday morning, was obvious in view of their testimony.
Suddenly the Democrats asked for a last minute vote.
The roll-call vote resulted in 55 votes in favor.
Five Republican senators voted with the Democrats.
There were 45 no votes.
Leahy escapes sovereignty over the course of the meeting
The problem: Even among the senators, there was deep uncertainty as to what exactly was being voted on.
Just about a testimony from Beutler?
Or about testimony in general?
The chairman of the meeting, the Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, has proven to be overwhelmed in the past few days.
On Saturday, Leahy lost control of the course of the meeting.
The Democrats actually got a tailwind from the clumsy, unprofessional behavior of Trump's lawyers.
Trump's lawyer, Michael van der Veen, earned laughter - extremely unusual in the Senate - for his demand that the witness interviews should be conducted in his Philadelphia office.
After the decision to hear the witnesses, there was chaos in the hall for several minutes.
Leahy was silent.
The democratic majority group, which usually proposes the timing in plenary, was taken by surprise.
A photo from Trump's legal team was circulating showing a list of various possible witnesses.
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Vice President Kamala Harris and many more were named.
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In the late morning the Senate adjourned for just under an hour.
The leaders discussed behind closed doors.
Sometimes it was said that the proceedings could now drag on for several weeks.
Should either side ask for witnesses, the other side would have the same right.
While the cars were waiting in front of the Capitol to bring the senators to the airport for the weekend, it looked like a longer session at times.
Should the impeachment process paralyze the Senate for weeks?
Trump still has power
In the end, the Democrats rowed back.
They waived the important testimony that they had just requested.
They contented themselves with taking the present statement by MPs Beutler to the files.
That’s it.
New President Joe Biden has always shown little to no interest in the Senate trial.
Biden sat in the second Congress Chamber for 36 years, knows the actors and can assess majority ratios.
No democrat to speak of has ever seen a realistic chance of convicting Trump, least of all Biden.
How on earth could 17 Republican senators find themselves for such a vote?
When Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Saturday that he would vote for an acquittal, Trump is likely to have finally breathed a sigh of relief.
And Biden?
The president wants to get his agenda through, for which he needs the Senate.
First and foremost, he is relying on his 1.9 trillion Covid aid package, which has been negotiated for several weeks.
Biden is also awaiting confirmation from various ministers and top officials, including Justice Minister-designate Merrick Garland.
On Saturday, it seemed, the Democrats, concerned about government projects, prevailed over their own impeachment managers.
Party and government policy won over the Senate, which acted as a court.
This relativizes the moralizing and indignant rhetoric of the Democrats about Trump's conduct, the swearing of the constitution and the oath of office.
And it also relativizes the requirement of how indispensable a conviction is.
What Biden may like is likely to damage the already tarnished credibility of the political system.
Meanwhile, the Trump-friendly Republican voting behavior shows how much power the former president still has in the Republican Party.
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Source: WORLD