Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi claimed President Donald Trump wasn’t really acquitted in the impeachment trial during an interview that aired this week with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“What about, though, the fact that the president seems liberated, and this is about democratic politics so I’m not asking you to criticize here, but he was acquitted, his poll ratings are high …” Amanpour said.
“He was not … there was no …” Pelosi interrupted.
“You can’t have an acquittal unless you have a trial, and you can’t have a trial unless you have witnesses and documents. So he can say he’s acquitted, and the headlines can say ‘acquitted,’ but he’s impeached forever, branded with that, and not vindicated,” Pelosi continued.
“And even the senators were saying, ‘yes, it wasn’t right,’ but they didn’t have the courage to act upon that.”
Fox News screenshot
Democrats have made this claim before. Earlier this month, the House managers in the impeachment trial claimed that Trump was not truly acquitted, saying that Trump didn’t get a “fair trial.” (RELATED: Trump Reveals Melania’s Cold Response To Nancy Pelosi’s Impeachment Speech)
The Senate indeed did vote to acquit Trump in the impeachment trial, with every Republican but one, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, voting against the charge of abuse of power, and all Republicans including Romney voting against the charge of obstruction.