Trump impeachment: What Maryland lawmakers are saying about Senate’s vote to acquit president

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to acquit President Donald Trump on two articles of impeachment.

Largely along party lines, the Senate voted, 52-48, to acquit Trump of abuse of power in relation to the president’s hold on roughly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine as he pressured the ally to investigate his political rivals.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney was the lone Republican to join the 45 Democrats and two independents in voting for the impeachment article, but it was not enough to reach the two-thirds majority vote required to remove the president from office.

The Senate voted 53-47 to acquit Trump on a separate charge of obstruction of Congress’ investigation. Romney joined his fellow Republicans in voting against the article in an entirely party-line vote.

Here’s what Maryland lawmakers had to say after the vote was finalized Wednesday afternoon:

Sen. Ben Cardin, who voted guilty on both articles of impeachment, wrote in a statement that the Senate did not conduct a fair trial and “has tainted this final verdict and has upset the balance of power between two constitutionally coequal branches of government.”

“President Trump is not a monarch. However, by willfully ignoring relevant evidence and disregarding willing, firsthand witnesses, Senate Republicans have strengthened his misguided march toward unabashedly autocratic power,” Cardin wrote. “We now have established a precedent that there are few boundaries for presidential behavior that are unconstitutional or harmful to our national security.”

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who voted guilty on both articles of impeachment, said the Senate failed “to adhere to the principles of our Constitution and the values of our country.”

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Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer lauded Romney’s vote for the first impeachment article, saying the Utah senator will be remembered “for putting country first.” Hoyer also called the vote “a sad day for our republic."

Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican in Maryland’s congressional delegation, wrote in a statement on Twitter that he was glad to see “this sadly partisan frivolous impeachment effort ended.”

“Thank goodness the Senate brought this to an end — and too bad the House [of Representatives] proceeded along partisan lines to attempt to undo the last election and to interfere with the ability of the American people to make their choice at the polls in 10 short months,” he wrote.

Democratic Rep. Anthony Brown wrote on Twitter that Trump’s acquittal “threatens our national security and the rule of law.”

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin called for Romney to become an independent after Donald Trump Jr. called for the Utah senator to be “expelled” from the Republican party.