Impeachment article has 200 cosponsors: US rep.

The draft, citing "incitement of insurrection," could be introduced Monday.

President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 11 days.


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Senior State adviser fired after tweeting Trump 'needs to go'

After tweeting the president must go, citing the insurrection at the Capitol, Gabriel Noronha was fired from the State Department on Thursday, he has confirmed.

Noronha, who served as a senior adviser and spokesperson for Iran policy, is the first Trump administration official fired for speaking out against the president over the week’s events.

“President Trump fomented an insurrectionist mob that attacked the Capitol today. He continues to take every opportunity to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power. These actions threaten our democracy and our Republic. Trump is entirely unfit to remain in office, and needs to go,” he tweeted on Wednesday.

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan


Overview: Trump retreats in wake of insurrection, Biden presses forward with transition

Biden is pressing forward with his inauguration on Jan. 20 -- and Trump won't be there, the president announced in a tweet Friday morning.

After Trump tweeted he wouldn’t attend, Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, Devin O’Malley, told ABC News, “Vice President Pence and the Second Lady have yet to make a decision regarding their attendance."

Earlier Friday, Trump took to Twitter to call his supporters "American Patriots" who "will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future" and "not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!

The tweets come hours after Trump, for the first time, said he would focus on an "ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power." In the video posted Thursday evening, he also rebuked those who vandalized the Capitol.

"To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay," Trump said.

While Democrats are looking at options for removing Trump from office, Biden has so far declined to comment on his stance for impeaching Trump or invoking the 25th Amendment with a spokesperson for his transition team saying Thursday he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are focusing on their duties.

Meanwhile, Trump has suggested to advisers that he wants to grant himself a pardon before leaving office, sources familiar with the discussions told ABC News.

Keeping on message, Biden is pressing forward with his transition and is expected to announce more picks for his economic and jobs team Friday afternoon including Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as his choice for secretary of commerce and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as his pick to serve as his secretary of labor. Walsh would be the first union member to serve in the role in almost half a century. Biden also named Isabel Guzman as his pick for small business administrator and Don Graves as his choice for secretary of commerce.

-ABC News' John Santucci, Katherine Faulders, Shannon Crawford and Ben Gittleson


Biden, Harris announce more members of the National Security Council

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have announced 21 additional members of the White House National Security Council including Yohannes Abraham as the chief of staff and executive secretary and Emily Horne as a senior director for press and NSC spokesperson.

The vast majority of the nominees previously served under the Obama administration. The positions do not require Senate confirmation.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle


Trump says he is not attending Biden's inauguration

Trump has announced he will not attend Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20.

"To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th," Trump tweeted Friday morning.

It comes just hours after Trump, in video posted to Twitter Thursday evening, effectively conceded and said he would focus on an "ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power."

Only incumbent presidents -- John Adams in 1801, John Quincy Adams in 1829 and Andrew Johnson in 1869 -- did not attend the inaugurations of their successors. Johnson, like Trump, was impeached and not convicted.
-ABC News' Chris Donovan


340 DC National Guardsmen to help DC police around Electoral College demonstrations

At District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser's request, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy has activated about 340 unarmed D.C. National Guardsmen to assist local law enforcement with the demonstrations taking place on Wednesday pegged to the Electoral College certification.

"We think it's helpful to have our D.C. Guardsmen, who are our Guard, that I have requested from the Secretary of the Army to assist MPD [Metropolitan Police Department] with traffic management," Bowser said Monday. "It absolutely frees up more officers."

The D.C. Guard is unique in that any call-ups have to be made by the Army secretary and not the jurisdiction’s top elected official -- as is the case with state governors. Additionally, more focus has been given to the call-ups since the controversial presence of D.C. Guardsmen and the use of D.C. Guard helicopters during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations last summer.

"They will be deployed to assist us with crowd management, as well as traffic control in our nation's capital that will allow for the police officers to focus on anyone who's intent on instigating agitating or participating in violence in our city," said D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee. He also labeled any possibility of violence surrounding the protests as "unacceptable" and repeated that carrying firearms is not allowed under D.C. law.

A senior defense official said Bowser put in the request for Guardsmen on Dec. 31 and that it was approved Monday morning. Beginning Tuesday through Thursday, the 340 personnel will help man 30 traffic control checkpoints around the northern side of the downtown area close to the National Mall.

"No one's going to be armed or body armor or anything like that," said the official. "What they need is traffic control."

-ABC News' Luis Martinez and Quinn Owen