Impeachment article has 200 cosponsors: US rep.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a new letter to Democrats on Saturday, asked members to prepare to return to Washington this week -- another signal that the House could take up and pass the impeachment article to the Senate after it is formally introduced on Monday.

Pelosi thanked fellow Democratic representatives for speaking with her on a conference call Friday and said she was taking their considerations into account. She did not specifically mention voting on impeachment in the letter, though.

"Since that call, I have received scores of communications from Members expressing your views about how we go forward and regarding a strong presence of our Caucus in the Capitol," she wrote. "Over the last few days, I have discussed your views with Constitutional lawyers, both inside and outside the Congress, to consider the parliamentary and constitutional options available to us."

"From what I have heard from Members, and from the deluge that I have received from the public, it is clear that, once again, the Times Have Found Us to save our democracy," Pelosi added in the letter. "We will be proceeding with meetings with Members and Constitutional experts and others. I continue to welcome your comments. I urge you to be prepared to return to Washington this week."

While Democrats are hopeful Republicans will back their effort, none have come out and said they would back the charge as drafted.

Pelosi said at a press conference on Thursday, "If the Vice President and Cabinet do not act [on the 25th Amendment], the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment."

Some Democrats planned to connect with Republican colleagues this weekend to gauge their support and encourage them to back the effort.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel

President Donald Trump is leaning toward a legal team led by his current personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, as well as longtime ally Alan Dershowitz if he were to face an impeachment trial in the Senate, sources told ABC News.

Lawyers Jay Sekulow and Pat Cipollone are not expected to be involved this time around after working on the president's legal team last year, sources said.

House Democrats discussed impeaching the president in the wake of the siege on the U.S. Capitol, egged on by Trump during a rally hours earlier, on Friday. They circulated the draft of a single article citing "incitement of insurrection" that could be introduced as early as Monday. A full House vote could be held as early as the middle of next week.

Trump would have just nine days left in office on Monday and it's legally murky whether an ex-president can be impeached after leaving the presidency.

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders and John Santucci

Vice President Pence will attend President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, according to a person familiar with his decision.

This comes the day after President Donald Trump tweeted he would not be attending.

On Friday morning, as Pence departed the White House, his press secretary, Devin O’Malley, said, "Vice President Pence and the second lady have yet to make a decision regarding their attendance."

Biden said Friday he would welcome Pence’s attendance, though he hadn't spoken to him about it.

"He's welcome. I think it's important that as much as we can stick to what have been the historical precedence of how and the circumstances of which an administration changes, should be maintained," Biden said. "And so ... the vice president is welcome to come, we would be honored to have him there, and to move forward in the transition."

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, called on the U.S. Senate to expel Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., if the senators refuse to resign in the aftermath of this week's siege on the Capitol.

"Both @HawleyMO and @SenTedCruz have betrayed their oaths of office and abetted a violent insurrection on our democracy," Brown wrote on Twitter. "I am calling for their immediate resignations. If they do not resign, the Senate must expel them."

Both Republican senators have faced bipartisan condemnation for their roles in opposing the ratification of Electoral College votes.

-ABC News' Trish Turner