Impeachment article has 200 cosponsors: US rep.

Biden introduced his nominees to the Justice Department on Thursday afternoon with a message that his administration will restore the law enforcement agency's political independence, which he argued has been damaged during Trump’s tenure.

“I want to be clear to those who lead this department who you will serve: You won’t work for me. You are not the president or the vice president’s lawyer. Your loyalty is not to me. It is to the law, the Constitution, the people of this nation to guarantee justice,” Biden told the group.

On his nomination of  D.C. Circuit Judge Merrick Garland to serve as attorney general, Biden praised Garland's experience, character and bipartisan credentials, noting that it was “no surprise” that then-President Barack Obama once put his name forward to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Garland grew emotional when taking the podium, thanking his family with a quiver in his voice. He spoke about what drew him to the law, recalling the swearing in of former federal Judge Ed Leavy who said “our law is not an instrument of partisan purpose," and addressed Wednesday's chaos.

“As everyone who watched yesterday's events in Washington now understands, if they did not understand before, the rule of law is not just some lawyer's turn of phrase. It is the very foundation of our democracy," he said.

Garland committed, as Biden and Harris have, that the Department of Justice under his control would remain an independent entity. 

Biden also introduced Lisa Monaco as his nominee for deputy attorney general, Vanita Gupta as his nominee for associate attorney general and Kristen Clarke as his nominee for assistant attorney general for the department's Civil Rights Division.

Before that, he squarely placed blame on Trump for Wednesday's events at the Capitol, calling the riots the "culmination" of Trump's "unrelenting attack" and "all-out assault on our institutions of democracy."

"They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. It's that basic. It's that simple. And I wish we could say we couldn't see it coming. But that isn't true," Biden said.

-ABC News' John Verhovek, Molly Nagle and Beatrice Peterson

Biden is expected to name Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as his pick to be the next secretary of commerce, sources familiar with the decision told ABC News on Thursday.

Raimondo, who was first elected governor in 2014 and chaired the Democratic Governors Association from December 2018 to December 2019, was one of the women under consideration to be Biden's running mate and was a potential choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

The governor, who has earned praise for her state's response to the coronavirus pandemic, is currently quarantining after coming into close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, according to her office, but that quarantine period is expected to end on Friday.

When officially announced, she will be the 10th woman picked to serve in Biden's Cabinet thus far.

-ABC News' Luke Barr, Molly Nagle and John Verhovek

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at a press conference on Capitol Hill Thursday, said she is calling for the resignation of the U.S. Capitol Police chief and that she has been advised that he will be submitting his resignation.

"There was a failure of leadership at the top of the Capitol Police," Pelosi said. "He hasn't even called us since this happened."

Separately, Pelosi said she has received the resignation of the House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, who oversees the Capitol Police.

Earlier in the press conference, Pelosi formally announced that she's backing calls for Trump to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment. And if not, Pelosi said she's prepared to impeach him again, given the "overwhelming sentiment" among her Democratic colleagues

"While there are only 13 days left, any day could be a horror show for America," Pelosi said.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan

Before introducing his Justice Department picks from Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday, Biden offered comments on Wednesday's chaos at the Capitol which he deemed "one of the darkest days in the history of our nation" and "an unprecedented assault on our democracy."

"All of us here grieve the loss of life, grieve the desecration of the people's house. But what we witnessed yesterday was not dissent. It was not disorder. It was not protests. It was chaos," Biden said. "They weren't protesters. Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists."

Biden placed blame on Trump who, he said, for the past four years has "made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done."

"He unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of our democracy from the outset. And yesterday was but the culmination of that unrelenting attack," Biden said.

Biden also predicted the response would have been very different had the majority of rioters been Black.

"No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, there wouldn't have been -- they would have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol. We all know that's true, and it is unacceptable, totally unacceptable," he said.