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.
Top headlines:
- Rep. Cicilline: 'Just passed 200 cosponsors' on article of impeachment
- GOP Rep. Kinzinger: Best thing for the country is Trump to resign
- Pence to attend Biden's inauguration: Source
- Senate Democrat says Cruz, Hawley should resign or 'the Senate must expel them'
- Trump asked Georgia election investigator to 'find the fraud': Source
Biden says he's focused on pandemic, not impeachment
Asked at a transition event in Wilmington, Delaware, about whether House Democrats should introduce articles of impeachment against Trump as soon as Monday -- just over a week from when Biden is slated to take office, Biden had a lengthy answer about how he's focused on the pandemic and leaving that decision to Congress.
"Look, I’ve thought for a long, long time that President Trump wasn’t fit to hold the job. That’s why I ran. And my job now, in 12 days -- God willing, I’ll be President of the United States of America. And I’m focused on the urgency of three immediate concerns," Biden said, "the virus, the vaccine and economic growth."
"What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide, but I'm going to have to -- and they're going to have to be ready -- to hit the ground running, because when Kamala and I are sworn in, we're gonna be introducing immediately significant pieces of legislation to deal with the virus, deal with the economy and deal with economic growth," he continued. "So we're going to do our job, and the Congress can decide how to proceed with theirs."
Asked what he would say if a Democratic member of Congress were to ask his advice about whether they should proceed, Biden said he'd deflect.
"I’d tell them that's a decision for the Congress to make. I'm focused on my job," he said.
Pressed on whether he spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before taking this stance, Biden said they will be speaking later on "about my agenda as well as whatever they want to talk to me about."
Biden says he considered Sanders to lead Labor Dept.
Biden, in announcing Cabinet nominees for key economic and jobs positions, confirmed he gave "serious consideration" to nominating Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for secretary of labor, but he said the two agreed they couldn't risk Republicans gaining control of the Senate.
"He could have done a fantastic job. I can think of no more passionate and devoted ally to working people in this country. But after Tuesday's results in Georgia, giving Democratic control of the United States Senate in a tie vote, Bernie and I agreed -- as a matter of fact, Bernie suggested -- we can't put control of the Senate at risk on the outcome of a special election in Vermont," Biden said.
Biden also reiterated in his remarks he supports raising the minimum wage to $15, passing more coronavirus relief legislation to small business owners and releasing more COVID-19 vaccine doses immediately to Americans to administer as many shots as possible.
No. 3 Senate Dem calls on Cruz, Hawley to resign
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., has called on Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to resign in the aftermath of the violent siege on the Capitol, accusing the Republican senators of inciting the pro-Trump mob that stormed into the building.
“As a Senator, I respect every member who disagrees with my ideas. I reserve my right to use my voice to fight for what I believe in. But at the end of the day, our job is to keep this country a democracy where voices win, not brute force," Murray wrote in a statement.
"Any Senator who stands up and supports the power of force over the power of democracy has broken their oath of office. Senators Hawley and Cruz should resign,” she added.
Hawley and Cruz led challenges to Wednesday's Electoral College ratification, which repeated Trump's unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election
Murray is the highest-ranking Senate Democrat to urge for the senators' resignations. Her statement echoes similar calls for Cruz and Hawley to step down from Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Pence arrives at White House, plans to meet with staff, after spending Thursday at home
Vice President Mike Pence arrived at the White House Friday afternoon, after spending Thursday away from the White House complex.
Pence will be participating in meetings and calls at the White House and planned to stop by his office’s weekly staff meeting, according to his office.
The vice president’s office did not respond to questions about whether Pence planned to meet with Trump amid calls from Democrats for Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Pence remained at his residence at the Naval Observatory grounds in Washington all day Thursday, according to a senior administration official, and received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, his office said Thursday.
-ABC News' Ben Gittleson and Elizabeth Thomas
Cheney argues an Electoral college challenge sets an 'exceptionally dangerous' precedent
Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., a member of House GOP leadership and one of the first prominent Republicans to acknowledge Biden's victory, sent a 21-page memo to her conference making the case against a challenge to the Electoral College certification process on Wednesday, arguing that it would improperly overrule states' authority over elections, and set a "dangerous precedent" down the line for future elections and sessions of Congress.
"By objecting to electoral slates, members are unavoidably asserting that Congress has the authority to overturn elections and overrule state and federal courts. Such objections set an exceptionally dangerous precedent, threatening to steal states’ explicit constitutional responsibility for choosing the President and bestowing it instead on Congress," Cheney wrote.
"This is directly at odds with the Constitution’s clear text and our core beliefs as Republicans. Democrats have long attempted, unconstitutionally, to federalize every element of our nation—including elections. Republicans should not embrace Democrats’ unconstitutional position on these issues," she added.
Cheney raises questions about the proposal from some Republicans to set up a commission to investigate concerns about the election, calling it a "problematic" set up that would take much longer than ten days to wrap up, and potentially delay the inauguration. The memo also exhaustively summarizes the court rulings against the president's legal efforts in the six states Republicans plan to target on Wednesday: Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania.
-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel