SENATE wing of the U.S Capitol building (Wikipedia).

For the second time, Donald Trump has been acquitted of the charges for which he was impeached.

On Saturday, the U.S, Senate voted 57-43 to convict the former president of a single charge of “incitement to insurrection,” but that fell far short of the two-thirds – 67 votes – needed to convict.

Seven Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in voting to convict. They are:

• Richard Burr of North Carolina
• Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
• Susan Collins of Maine
• Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
• Mitt Romney of Utah
• Ben Sasse of Nebraska
• Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.

Trump is the only president to be impeached twice and acquitted twice. The accusations against him center on his alleged encouragement of protesters in attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. His comment of “fight like hell” has been interpreted by critics as urging violence; his defenders argue he was merely exercising his First Amendment rights.