WASHINGTON — Marco Rubio and Rick Scott voted Saturday to acquit former President Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The move was not unexpected for Florida's two Republican senators, both of whom supported the ex-president during his tenure.
In a statement, Rubio denounced the Jan. 6 attack as "unpatriotic" and "un-American," but criticized the House of Representatives and its managers for moving forward with the impeachment process. He argued, in his view, it's unconstitutional to convict a former government official no longer in office.
Senators, however, earlier in the week voted on a bipartisan basis the very trial was constitutional.
"I voted to acquit former President Trump because I will not allow my anger over the criminal attack of January 6th nor the political intimidation from the left to lead me into supporting a dangerous constitutional precedent," Rubio said following Trump's acquittal.
"The election is over. A new President is in the White House and a new Congress has been sworn in.
"Let history, and if necessary the courts, judge the events of the past."
Scott, after earlier calling the trial "a waste of time," in a statement said, "it's time to get back to work." He, too, condemned the Jan. 6 attack but accused Democrats of wasting tax dollars.
House managers argued the case presented against Trump was the "cold, hard facts." For months following the election in which he lost and Democratic challenger Joe Biden won, Trump and his allies spread baseless claims that the election was stolen.
The former president's rhetoric in the weeks thereafter and leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol showed Trump was the "inciter in chief," managers argued. Five people were killed in the riot, including a Capitol police officer. Two other officers died by suicide afterward.
Despite the assessments from the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security confirming that no serious fraud had occurred during the election, Trump and his campaign pushed to reverse the results. Sixty-two lawsuits were filed in state and federal courts; 61 failed for lack of standing and others were thrown out based on the merits of voter fraud allegations, USA Today reports.
"The attack on the Capitol we all witnessed on January 6 was horrific and the lawless thugs who are responsible for the disgusting violence we saw do not represent America," Scott said in a statement. They should all be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"However, this week, instead of addressing the serious issues facing our nation, Democrats in Congress put our work for the American people on hold and pushed forward with an unconstitutional impeachment trial."
St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, a Democrat who knows both Florida leaders during his time in leadership, said: "They know better."
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