Senators voted to acquit Trump and end the impeachment trial around 4:30 p.m., despite Republican Sen. Mitt Romney joining Democrats to remove the president.

WASHINGTON — Following just over two weeks of arguments from Democratic House managers prosecuting the case and the White House defense, the Senate voted Wednesday to keep President Donald Trump in office.

Trump was acquitted on both charges, as two-thirds of senators (67) were needed to vote to remove him. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney shocked colleagues Wednesday in announcing on the Senate floor that he would vote to convict Trump — but none of the chamber’s other 52 Republicans joined him. Senators voted separately on the two articles of impeachment, first abuse of power and then obstruction of Congress. Romney voted to convict on the first charge but not the second.

Wednesday’s vote marks the end of an impeachment saga over Trump pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and his family and withholding nearly $400 billion in military aid to Ukraine.

The prosecution and the defense made their closing arguments Monday afternoon. Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead impeachment manager who also serves as the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, had the final word in the debate. “You can’t trust this president to do the right thing — not for one minute, not for one election, not for the sake of our country. You just can’t,” Schiff said on the Senate floor Monday. “He will not change and you know it.” In his closing remarks, Schiff tried to appeal to Republican senators who may be on the fence. “I do not ask you to convict him because truth or right or decency matters nothing to him, but because we have proven our case and it matters to you,” he said. “Truth matters to you. Right matters to you. You are decent. He is not who you are.” The president’s defense team argued that, with the election just nine months away, it should be left up to the voters to decide whether the president should be removed from office. “At the end of the day, we put our faith in the Senate,” White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said. “We put our faith in the Senate. Because we know you will put your faith in the American people. You will leave this choice to them, where it belongs.” Ahead of the vote, protesters filed into the Capitol's rotunda. A group of 10 people locked arms during a sit-in and repeatedly shouted “Trump is guilty!" before being removed by Capitol Police.

We’ve been told to leave by a newly-dispatched group of Capitol Police officers.