The presiding officer directs judgment to be entered in accordance with the judgment of the Senate as follows.

The Senate having tried Donald John Trump, President of the United States, upon two articles of impatient, exhibited against him by the House of Representatives, and two thirds of the senator's president not having found him guilty of the charges contained therein.

It is therefore ordered and a judge that the said Donald John Trump be and he is hereby acquitted of the charges in said articles.

Welcome to a special episode of Talking Feds Now, which we reserve for immediate reactions today's of landmark developments.

And you could say today qualifies a few hours ago the Senate voted to acquit President Trump of the two articles of impeachment brought by the House of Representatives, one for abuse of power, growing out of a scheme to force the president of Ukraine to announce an investigation of a political rival.

And one for obstruction of Congress, growing out of the president's wholesale blockade of the legislative efforts to gather evidence in Congress's oversight function.

On the one hand the verdict I think it's fair to say was never endowed at least for many months. Nearly all the 53 Republicans in the Senate threw their lots in from the start with majority leader Mitch McConnell, who had boasted before the trial that he intended not to follow his orders.

And so forth to do impartial justice and in fact to coordinate completely with the White House and its defense.

On the other hand, the acquittal brings to a close a particularly stormy chapter in the tempestuous presidency of Donald Trump.

So it's a historic development in itself. And also the way it went down promises to lead to multiple and hard to predict repercussions in the election season that we have just entered and beyond.

I'm Harry Littman, a former United States attorney and deputy assistant attorney general and a current Washington Post columnist and joining me to unpack today's events and take a sort of first stab at history.

Our fantastic group of three charter feds well known to listeners of this podcast and to anyone who watches MSNBC among other channels to introduce them just quickly.

We have Frank Figley, the former assistant director for counterintelligence at the federal Bureau of investigation, as well as the previous special agent in charge of the FBI's Cleveland division.

He's a national security contributor for NBC and MSNBC news. Welcome Frank.

Thanks for having me on a day that will go down in history or in infamy when in February 5, 2020, a day that will live in infamy.

Not Mr. Glenn Kirschner who served in the US attorney's office for the District of Columbia for 24 years, rising to multiple positions, including Chief of the homicide section.

He also served on active duty as an Army judge advocate general prosecutor. Glenn, thanks for being here.

Happy to be here on what is a dark day for our country, Harry.

And finally, Barb McQuade, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Law.

Barb was the US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017.

And before that, an assistant US attorney for many years. Barb, thanks for being here too.

Thanks, Harry. Glad to join the conversation.

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