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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More Guardsmen headed to DC, fencing to go up around Capitol

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, at a press conference alongside Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser Thursday morning, said that 6,200 Guardsmen will be deployed to the DC area by the weekend and, as of noon, 850 personnel are on Capitol grounds.

He also announced the National Guard will set up seven-foot fencing surrounding the Capitol complex from Constitution, Independence and First Ave to the front of the Capitol pond.

Around 4,000 new Guardsmen will arrive from Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Some of these troops were already going to be arriving in D.C. to help out with the inauguration, as they have in the past.  The official said that their arrival has been accelerated and that they will be on month-long deployments to help out with the current situation and continue beyond the inauguration.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez and Quinn Owen


SCOTUS rejects Gohmert's appeal

After Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, filed an appeal to the Supreme Court in his suit against Vice President Mike Pence, the Supreme Court formally rejected the effort by Gohmert and nearly a dozen other Trump allies.

The suit attempted to force Pence to acknowledge he has the authority to reject electoral votes and effectively overturn the election, which was not within his power.

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer and Jonathan Karl


FBI director releases statement on Capitol breach

FBI Director Chris Wray has released a statement on Wednesday's violence and destruction of property at the Capitol, slamming the rioting as "a blatant and appalling disregard for our institutions of government and the orderly administration of the democratic process."

"As we've said consistently, we do not tolerate violent agitators and extremists who use the guise of First Amendment-protected activity to incite violence and wreak havoc. Such behavior betrays the values of our democracy. Make no mistake: With our partners, we will hold accountable those who participated in yesterday's siege of the Capitol," Wray said in the statement.

He said the FBI has deployed its full investigative resources and is working its partners to pursue those criminally involved. He also encouraged members of the public to provide tips.

"We are determined to find those responsible and ensure justice is served," he added.

-ABC News' Jake Date


White House withdraws DHS official's nomination, says it doesn't have to do with his call for Trump to condemn violence

Soon after acting Department of Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf issued a statement calling on Trump to condemn Wednesday's violence, the White House said that his nomination to be DHS secretary had been withdrawn from the Senate.

But a White House spokesman said the withdrawal took place Wednesday and had nothing to do with Wolf's statement Thurdsay.

“The withdrawal occurred yesterday and was not related at all to Wednesday’s events or the Acting Secretary’s comments this morning," White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said. "Acting Secretary Wolf remains the acting secretary and continues to perform the duties of his office."

Wolf is currently on a flight back from the Middle East, according to a person familiar with his whereabouts.

Wolf's nomination was only sent to the Senate on Sunday, the same day the new Congress was sworn in. He had previously been nominated in September.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson and Luke Barr


Georgia election official debunks fraud theories Trump raised on call with Raffensperger

Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling, a Republican, at a press conference on what he called "anti-disinformation Monday," ran through major voter conspiracies pushed by Trump, his allies and far-right media outlets and debunked them one-by-one in an effort to restore faith in Georgia's election system.

"The reason I'm having to stand here today is because there are people in positions of authority and respect who have said their vote didn't count and it's not true," Sterling said, stressing to Georgians that their votes count ahead of critical runoffs in the state which will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

"It's Whac-A-Mole again. It is Groundhog Day again. I'm going to talk about the things I've talked about repeatedly for two months, but I'm going to do it for one last time," Sterling said, adding he "screamed" at the radio upon hearing audio of the phone call between Trump and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger because theories Trump questioned have already been "thoroughly debunked."

For example, Sterling, responding to those who claim there were roughly 2,500 people who voted without being registered, said, "Let's just be clear about this: you can't do it!" He said, "So that number is zero," going on to debunk other theories.

Asked if he believes, as some have said, that Trump's phone call was an attack on democracy, Sterling said he'd leave others to make that decision before adding he felt it was "out of place."

"I found it to be something that was not normal -- out of place -- and nobody I know who would be president would do something like that to a secretary of state," Sterling said.

Asked about Raffenperger's desire to have the phone call recorded and whether he was concerned about anything improper being said or needing to release it later, Sterling said it was recorded "out of an abundance of caution"

"I think given the environment we're in right now, the political situation that we're in, the history of the president, knowing that he sometimes doesn't necessarily characterize things as they might have actually occurred, it was out of abundance of caution," Sterling said.

"I'm sure the president's side may have recorded it, too. They may have been the ones who leaked part of that, too," he added.