'Coward' Marco Rubio torn to bits after he admits Trump's actions are impeachable -- but he'll still acquit him

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has put out a lengthy statement explaining his decision to acquit President Donald Trump in his Senate impeachment trial -- and he's not being very well received.

In his statement, Rubio concedes that even though he believes the president's actions "meet a standard of impeachment," he does not believe that he should be removed from office.

"Six weeks ago I announced that, for me, the question would not just be whether the President’s actions were wrong, but ultimately whether what he did was removable," he writes. "The two are not the same. Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a President from office."

In making his decision, Rubio says he assumed that all the allegations leveled against the president were true -- that is, that the president really did try to extort the Ukrainian government to get dirt on his political opponents.

But he said that this still does not warrant removal because doing so would make Trump supporters angry.

"Can anyone doubt that at least half of the country would view his removal as illegitimate -- as nothing short of a coup d’état?" he asks. "It is difficult to conceive of any scheme Putin could undertake that would undermine confidence in our democracy more than removal would."

Of course, impeachment is the opposite of a coup -- in fact, it is the constitutionally authorized process for removing a president who has committed bribery, high treason or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

The backlash to Rubio's statement on Twitter was swift and fierce -- check out some reactions below.