US Speaker rules out censure after Trump's acquittal

After the Senate voted to acquit Donald Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday (local time) said that she was against the possibility of censuring the former US President in the Senate as that would be just a "little slap on the wrist".

"Censure is a slap in the face of the Constitution. It lets everybody off the hook, it lets everybody off the hook," Pelosi said.

She further said that people are not censured for inciting the Capitol riot but on "people for using stationery for the wrong purpose".

"Oh, these cowardly senators who could not face up to what the president did and what was at stake for our country are now going to have a chance to give a little slap on the wrist?" she added.

Pelosi added that the House was going to investigate everything regarding the January 6 events at the Capitol, to ensure that such events never happen in the US again, Sputnik reported.

Trump's acquittal comes over a month after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol as legislators were counting the electoral results that certified his loss. Five people died in the riot, including a police officer.

According to a report by CNN, Trump got acquitted even after seven Republican senators joining 50 Democrats voting to convict, fewer than the 17 needed.

The vote was 57-43, with seven Republicans and the Senators needed a two-thirds majority to convict Trump.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer termed the Senate's decision as "un-American".

"The former President inspired, directed, and propelled a mob to violently prevent the peaceful transfer of power, subvert the will of the people, and illegally keep that President in power," Schumer said.

"There is nothing, nothing more un-American than that...There is nothing, nothing more antithetical to our democracy... insulting to the generations of American patriots who gave their lives to defend our form of government," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )