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WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate as expected has acquitted President Trump on charges he abused his power, and obstruction of justice.

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah was the only Republican senator to break ranks with his party in voting for conviction of thee abuse of power charge.

With the Republican party in control of the Senate, it was always going to be a battle to forge a guilty verdict, given that a two-thirds majority was required.

Senator Romney however put aside his own interest and that of his party, and voted, as he said, in accordance with his conscience.

“As a senator juror, I swore an oath before God to exercise impartial justice. I am profoundly religious. My faith is at the heart of who I am,” he said in a speech to the Senate.

“I take an oath before God as enormously consequential. I knew from the outset that being tasked with judging the president, the leader of my own party, would be the most difficult decision I have ever faced. I was not wrong,” Romney said.

“Accordingly, the president is guilty of an appalling abuse of public trust. What he did was not perfect. No, it was a flagrant assault on our electoral rights, our national security, and our fundamental values. Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office is perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.”

With my vote I will tell my children and their children that I did my duty. What the president did was wrong, grievously wrong, Romney said.

Florida senator Rick Scott was scornful of Romney’s stand. I think its unfortunate that hes bought into Adam Schiffs impeachment charade, he told Fox News on Wednesday. Mitt Romney is elected by the citizens of Utah and hell be judged by the citizens of Utah.

The trial itself, only the third impeachment trial involving a president, was a challenge for the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, given that the White House refused to co-operate, would now not allow administration officials in the main to testify, and refused to provide most documents requested. Those that were provided with heavily, almost completely redacted.

The White House on Wednesday described the outcome as “full vindication and exoneration.”

“Today, the sham impeachment attempt concocted by Democrats ended in the full vindication and exoneration of President Donald J. Trump. As we have said all along, he is not guilty. The Senate voted to reject the baseless articles of impeachment, and only the Presidents political opponents all Democrats, and one failed Republican presidential candidate voted for the manufactured impeachment articles,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement released on Wednesday.

“In what has now become a consistent tradition for Democrats, this was yet another witch-hunt that deprived the President of his due process rights and was based on a series of lies. Rep. Adam Schiff lied to Congress and the American people with a totally made up statement about the Presidents phone call. Will there be no retribution? Speaker Nancy Pelosi also lied to the American people about the need to swiftly pass impeachment articles they dreamt up, only to sit on them for a month before sending over to the Senate. In the Senate, the Democrats continued to make their political motivations clear Rep. Schiff proclaimed the issues cannot be decided at the ballot box proving once again they think they know better than the voters of this country. This entire effort by the Democrats was aimed at overturning the results of the 2016 election and interfering with the 2020 election.”

“Throughout this wholly corrupt process, President Trump successfully advanced the interests of the United States and remained focused on the issues that matter to Americans. He spent his time achieving real victories for the people of this country, and the Democrats once again have nothing to show for their fraudulent schemes. The President is pleased to put this latest chapter of shameful behavior by the Democrats in the past, and looks forward to continuing his work on behalf of the American people in 2020 and beyond.,” said the White House press secretary’s statement.

In the State of the Union address on Tuesday night, the president did not mention the impeachment, notwithstanding he has found it difficult to ignore since it was first mooted.

The articles of impeachment centered around a telephone call in which Mr Trump requested Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to instigate an investigation into his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter. He held back $391 million in military aid whilst he continued to pressure the Ukraine president.

The military assistance was eventually handed over, in September, without the investigation being announced.

A second impeachment article accused Mr Trump of obstructing congressional investigations into the Ukraine matter.

“The administration, its top people and Senate Republicans are all hiding the truth. The charges are extremely serious. To interfere in an election, to blackmail a foreign country to interfere in our elections, gets at the very core of what our democracy is about,” Senate Democratic leader and House Manager Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.