She was in the room on Wednesday when they counted the votes, and when Chief Justice John Roberts announced the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump had concluded. There weren't enough votes to convict him, so that was that. So it was pretty strange when Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) argued with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday about how the president had been acquitted.
Wolf Blitzer: "The Senate has clearly spoken now. @realDonaldTrump was acquitted."
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 6, 2020
Dem Sen Mazie Hirono: "Wolf, he wasn't acquitted..."
Blitzer: "There was a role call, guilty or not guilty. Not guilty was the majority. & the [Chief Justice]... announced that he was acquitted." pic.twitter.com/Tt9qoSmqRP
"Wolf," Hirono interrupted, laughing. "He wasn't acquitted. It was a rigged trial."
She explained.
"You don't get acquitted when you don't even get to call witnesses, or relevant witnesses, or have the documents because the president stonewalled all efforts on the part of the House to get the information they requested. So there you go. It was a rigged trial."
"He can run around saying he was acquitted but you don't get acquitted in a rigged trial," Hirono added for good measure.
Blitzer had to point out the obvious.
"There was a roll call, guilty or not guilty," he reminded her. "Not guilty was the majority and the Chief Justice announced that he was acquitted."
That should have settled things, but Hirono went on to suggest that the American public saw things differently. Uh huh. Perhaps that's why Trump has some of his highest approval ratings to date.
The rest of the world knows that Trump can now put the impeachment trial behind him. He took a victory lap on Thursday - first at the National Prayer Breakfast, and then at a press conference at the White House - where he torched Democrats for their years long (and now failed) "witch hunt." He also had some fun displaying all the newspapers that blasted the headline, "Acquitted."
So yeah, Sen. Hirono, I guess he is "running around" with the news.
