UPDATED WITH STATEMENTS: Kennedy, Cassidy split as Senate votes to acquit Trump

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy voted not guilty while fellow Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy voted guilty Saturday as the Senate fell short of the number of votes needed to convict former President Donald Trump of inciting the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The final vote was 57-43 in favor of conviction. But conviction requires a two-thirds vote, or 67 votes.

Cassidy joined six Republican senators in voting for conviction: Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Susan Collins of Maine, Richard Burr of North Carolina and Ben Sasse of Nebraska.

Cassidy had already drawn criticism from Louisiana Republican officials after he voted for a measure declaring the impeachment trial of the former president to be constitutional.

The surprise of the day came from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who told his fellow senators that he voted against conviction on constitutional grounds, saying he believes a former president isn't subject to impeachment and conviction.

But McConnell, R-Kentucky, ripped Trump for what he called a "disgraceful dereliction of duty. ...

"There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day," McConnell said on the Senate floor after the vote.

McConnell said conventional legal remedies are more appropriate for a former president.

Trump's defense team had argued the constitutionality question and said the president's words before the riot, in which five people died, were protected free speech, not incitement.

St. Mary's other federal representative, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, voted against impeachment in the House.

Kennedy issued this statement Saturday:

“My job as a senator and juror in an impeachment trial is not—NOT—to defend, excuse or explain anyone’s behavior—not the Capitol rioters’, not the Democrats’, not the president’s. My job is to evaluate the evidence.

“In my judgment, impeachment is not supposed to be political sport where one party seeks advantage over the other at the expense of the country.

“The merits of the Democrats’ case were not even close.

“The Democrats afforded the president no due process in the House — no hearings, no investigation, no right to be heard, no defense. No one is above the law, but no one is beneath it.

“Second, the president is no longer the president. We were asked to impeach a guy in Florida. The Democrats never proved jurisdiction.

“Third, the Democrats charged President Trump with inciting a riot through his speech, but then the Democrats introduced evidence that the riot was pre-planned. The Democrats disproved their own case.

“There are one or two things I think we can all agree on: The nut jobs who violated the Capitol on Jan. 6 should be prosecuted and jailed. There can be no justice without order. Political violence is wrong. Always. It was wrong on Jan. 6, and it was wrong during the riots this summer.

“Finally, both parties should be big tents, but those big tents should each have a big door to kick out extremists who exist on both sides.”

From Cassidy on Twitter:

"Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty."