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Trump Acquitted: Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin Calls Senate Trial Tainted By Ignoring Witnesses

WASHINGTON (WJZ) -- The Senate voted Wednesday to acquit President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Maryland lawmakers from both sides of the aisle reacted to the Senate acquittal of President Donald Trump.

Senate Acquits Trump On Impeachment Charges

Democratic Senator Ben Cardin said that the Senate vote does not exonerate President Trump's actions.

Cardin said in a statement, in part:

"The actions by the Senate today and throughout this trial reflect as poorly on the Senate itself as on the president. The failure of the Senate to conduct a fair trial 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. We now have established a precedent that there are few boundaries for presidential behavior that are unconstitutional or harmful to our national security. Congress must continue to conduct vigorous oversight of President Trump's actions for the remainder of his presidency, and should use all of its constitutional and legislative tools available to hold the president accountable for ongoing misconduct in office."

Republican Congressman Andy Harris also released a statement:

"It's about time that this sadly partisan frivolous impeachment effort ended - and Congress can once again turn their attention to important matters facing America, like drug prices, healthcare costs, border security, and keeping our economy going. Thank goodness the Senate brought this to an end - and too bad the House 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.  The clear majority voting against removal in the Senate today shows just how frivolous this impeachment effort was."

Continue to stay with WJZ as more reactions come in.

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