PHOENIX — Arizona's two senators voted along party lines Wednesday on impeachment charges against President Donald J. Trump.
Arizona’s Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema voted to convict President Trump on both charges -- Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress -- while Republican Senator McSally voted not guilty on both charges.
President Trump was acquitted on both charges.
Sinema was one of several senators that were reportedly thought to potentially cross party lines during the vote Wednesday.
She released a statement ahead of the formal vote:
"Today, I vote to approve both articles, as my highest duty, and my greatest love, is to our nation's Constitution," Sinema said in a statement. "Americans deserve a government they can trust operates in our best interest. As elected officials, we swear an oath to the Constitution to put the interests of our country and our national security above personal interests. Public service is an honor and a privilege—and it is our duty to earn this privilege every day through our behavior as stewards of this great nation."
Earlier Wednesday, Republican Senator Mitt Romney announced that he would cross party lines and vote to convict President Trump on one of the two charges. Romney voted guilty on the first Article of Impeachment and not guilty on the second.
In an interview after the vote, McSally told ABC15 that she doesn’t agree with the president’s actions in some cases, but that she didn’t think it should have risen to the level of impeachment.
“What President Trump did was inappropriate, showed some poor judgment. But what we have to decide as the Senate, the Founding Fathers gave us this very heavy role to decide to throw a president out of office,” McSally said. “There are legitimate concerns about the Bidens, but I don’t think the president went about looking into it in an appropriate way.”
After the vote, Sen. McSally also released the following statement:
"Today, I voted against convicting President Trump of the two articles of impeachment. I opposed removing the president from office and the 2020 ballot as this outcome would have been deeply disruptive to the functioning of our government, further divided our nation, and would prevent the American people from deciding who their president should be at the ballot box. The American people collectively are better fit to judge Donald Trump's presidency as a whole than the partisan politicians in Washington who brought forth this impeachment.
“Our Founding Fathers were clear that impeachment and conviction of a president is an extreme action of last resort, to be used for only the gravest offenses. By requiring a two-thirds vote in the Senate, the framers warned against impeachment as a political weapon by an oppositional party. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi used to agree."
