Voters around Meridian had differing opinions on the outcome of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial Wednesday. 

Logan Stewart, who studies criminal justice at Meridian Community College, called the trial a waste of taxpayer money. 

“This is just a last-ditch effort for the Democrats…because they know they’re not going to win 2020, so this is their effort of trying to get Trump out of the White House and they failed,” he said. 

He did not believe Trump had committed an impeachable offense. 

“They released the transcript and there was nothing wrong with it,” Stewart said. 

Joseph Rupert, a Meridian Community College student in the automotive mechanics program, disagreed. 

“I think it’s at the level of impeachment…That’s wrong, regardless. I don’t think that’s right,” he said. “I think the Republicans are just trying to keep him there for their own needs and their own reasons.”

Lisa Johnson of Meridian said she didn’t vote for Trump but still prays for him to make good decisions. The impeachment trial may be an opportunity for the president to make changes, she said.  

“I just wish things would get better,” she said. “It’s a lot of division going on.”

U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi voted “not guilty” alongside their Republican colleagues on both charges in the trial. 

“This trial exposed that pure political partisanship fueled a reckless investigation and the subsequent impeachment of the President on weak, vague, and noncriminal accusations,” Hyde-Smith said in a statement. “The Democrats’ case—which lacked the basic standards of fairness and due process—was fabricated to fulfill their one, long-held hope to impeach President Trump.”

“From the beginning, the effort to impeach President Trump was a partisan exercise with a predetermined outcome,” Wicker said in a statement. “The articles passed by the House did not allege a crime, let alone the ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ required by the Constitution…I hope Americans can put this episode behind us, and that Congress can now return to the work of the people.”

Congressman Michael Guest, who represents the Third Congressional District, called for unity.

“Now that the divisive impeachment process is over, I urge my Democratic colleagues to turn their efforts towards uniting our country and join Republicans in working to advance policy issues that benefit the people of our nation,” Guest said in a statement.

-Bill Graham contributed reporting