Florida’s Rick Scott and Marco Rubio were among 43 Republicans in the U.S. Senate whose votes Saturday enabled former President Donald Trump to escape conviction in an impeachment trial for a second time.
In the end the vote was 57 guilty to 43 not guilty, short of the 67 guilty votes needed to convict.
Trump offered his “deepest thanks to all of the United States Senators and members of Congress who stood proudly for the Constitution we all revere and for the sacred legal principles at the heart of our country.”
Scott, who in a 2017 Lincoln Day speech in The Villages described his friendship of more than two decades with Trump, had called impeachment “a complete waste of time.”
Rubio, who was famously mocked by Trump as “Little Marco” in the 2016 presidential contest, tweeted, “All this drama for nothing. House managers made fools of themselves.”
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Florida Democratic Party Chair Manny Diaz denounced the votes of Florida’s two U.S. senators.
“Make no mistake, today’s vote to acquit by Rubio and Scott set an extraordinarily dangerous precedent that is an existential threat to our country. Today Rubio and Scott gave future Presidents the green light to attack our democratic institutions, subvert the will of the voters, knowingly lie to the American people, stir their passions to commit violent insurrection and ultimately face no consequence for these authoritarian actions. Senators Rubio and Scott are now complicit in this attack on our government and we the people of Florida will hold them accountable,” Diaz said.
