Seven Republicans voted to convict former US president Donald Trump in his Senate trial, the largest number of politicians to ever vote to find a president of their own party guilty at impeachment proceedings.
While politicians voted 57-43 to find Mr Trump guilty on Saturday, the evenly divided Senate fell well short of the two-thirds majority required to convict an impeached president.
But by joining all 50 Democrats who voted against Mr Trump, the seven GOP senators created a clear majority against him and provided a bipartisan chorus of condemnation of the former president.
Mr Trump was acquitted of inciting an insurrection for riling up a crowd of his supporters before they attacked the US Capitol last month.
Voting to find Mr Trump guilty were Republican senators Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania.
All but one of the seven senators are not facing re-election in the near future, with only Ms Murkowski on the ballot in 2022.
Most of the defecting Republicans had clashed with Mr Trump over the years. Mr Burr and Mr Toomey have said they will retire and not seek reelection when their terms expire next year.
Mr Romney was the lone Republican senator to vote to convict Mr Trump in February 2020 in his first impeachment trial.
In a statement explaining his vote, Mr Romney accused the former president of attempting "to corrupt the election by pressuring the Secretary of State of Georgia to falsify the election results in his state", and inciting the 6 January riots.
"President Trump incited the insurrection against Congress by using the power of his office to summon his supporters to Washington on January 6th and urging them to march on the Capitol during the counting of electoral votes. He did this despite the obvious and well known threats of violence that day," the statement said.
"President Trump also violated his oath of office by failing to protect the Capitol, the Vice President, and others in the Capitol. Each and every one of these conclusions compels me to support conviction.”
Ms Collins accused Mr Trump of an "abuse of power", in a speech delivered on the Senate floor after her vote to impeach him.
Mitt Romney was the lone Republican senator to vote to convict Mr Trump in February 2020.
"Tossing a lit match into a dry pile of leaves is very different than tossing it into a pool of water," she said, referring to Mr Trump's tweet saying his Vice President Mike Pence "lacked courage".
"His actions to interfere with the peaceful transition of power - the hallmark of our constitutional promise of democracy - and mark an abuse of power," she said.
Speaking to reporters after the trial, Mr Burr said his vote was based on "precedent".
"When this process started, I believed that it was unconstitutional to impeach a president who was no longer in office. I still believe that to be the case. However, the Senate is an institution based on precedent, and given that the majority in the Senate voted to proceed with this trial, the question of constitutionality is now established precedent," he said.
Mr Cassidy released a video statement following his vote. "Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty," he said.
Mr Toomey, one of the few senators whose vote was unclear before the Senate roll call, evoked America's Founding Fathers in addressing his vote.
“A lawless attempt to retain power by a president was one of the founders’ greatest fears,” he said after the vote, adding, “his betrayal of the Constitution and his oath of office required conviction".
