Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiMcConnell focuses on confirming judicial nominees with COVID-19 talks stalled Overnight Defense: Top admiral says 'no condition' where US should conduct nuclear test 'at this time' | Intelligence chief says Congress will get some in-person election security briefings Pelosi must go — the House is in dire need of new leadership MORE (D-Calif.) hammered congressional Republicans for adopting the “darkest vision” of executive power in President Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE’s impeachment trial.

“With their vote, Senate Republicans embraced this darkest vision of power: that if the president believes his reelection is good for the country, then he can use any means necessary to win, with no accountability or consequences,” Pelosi wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post on Friday.

The Senate on Wednesday voted largely along party lines to acquit Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Democrats said Trump overstepped when he pressured Ukraine to investigate political rivals, and obstructed Congress when he worked to hinder subsequent probes. Republicans said Trump’s conduct did not rise to the level of impeachment.

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During the trial, Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton DershowitzDershowitz suing CNN for 0 million in defamation suit Bannon and Maxwell cases display DOJ press strategy chutzpah Ghislaine Maxwell attorneys ask for delay to unseal court documents due to 'critical new information' MORE, a member of the president’s legal defense team, gave a wide berth to the legal boundaries around a presidential quid pro quo.

“If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment,” Dershowitz said on the Senate floor.

Dershowitz later backtracked, saying the media was distorting his remarks.

Pelosi said Republicans’ defense of the president was a “betrayal” of the Constitution and opened the door to further misconduct by the White House.

“Sadly, because of the Republican Senate’s betrayal of the Constitution, the president remains an ongoing threat to American democracy," she wrote. "He continues to insist that he is above accountability and that he can corrupt the elections again, if he wants to."

Trump has touted his acquittal in the Senate, repeating his past claims that the impeachment trial was a partisan “witch hunt” intended at overturning his 2016 victory.