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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Heated confrontation between House members amid debate over Pennsylvania electoral vote count

A brief but tense confrontation unfolded on the floor of the House of Representatives early Thursday morning, with some members appearing ready to come to blows while debating challenges put forth by Republican lawmakers seeking to reverse Biden's win.

Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., used his five minutes to give an impassioned speech during the debate over the Electoral College votes from Pennsylvania.

"These objections don't deserve an ounce of respect. Not an ounce," Lamb said, aiming his comments towards the Republicans in the room. "A woman died out there tonight, and you're making these objections!"

"That attack today, it didn't materialize out of nowhere. It was inspired by lies," he continued. "The members who are repeating those lies should be ashamed of themselves. Their constituents should be ashamed of them."

Rep. Morgan Griffiths, R-Va., then jumped in, attempting to make a point of order and asking for some of Lamb's words to be stricken from the record.

"The gentleman said there were lies on this floor today, looking over this direction. I ask that those words be taken down," Griffiths said to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding Lamb's speech.

Pelosi dismissed Griffiths because he spoke out of turn. Lamb then told Republicans: "The truth hurts."

As Pelosi banged her gavel, attempting to get the lower chamber in order, several members ran toward the back of the room. Sources, as well as reporters who were in the room, told ABC News that House Republicans and Democrats appeared to be confronting each other in the aisle, and a shouting match ensued about who should sit down.

Reps. Andy Harris, R-Md., and Colin Allred, D-Texas, appeared to be on the verge of a fist fight, sources told ABC News. There was shouting, but no punches were thrown.

The heated moment passed just as quickly as it began, and the debate resumed.

The House is expected to vote soon on the Republican objections to certify Pennsylvania's Electoral College ballots. Just hours earlier, the Senate voted 92-7 against the measure.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan


Senate rejects objections to Pennsylvania's electoral votes

The Republican effort to overturn the will of Pennsylvania voters failed in the Senate early Thursday morning by a vote of 7-92.

The upper chamber had completely bypassed debate and went straight to a vote.

After the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch said he does not expect any additional challenges to the Electoral College results.

The Senate now stands ready to return to a joint session of Congress, as the Pennsylvania objection goes to the House of Representatives for a vote. Both chambers of Congress must vote in favor of the challenge for it to succeed.

-ABC News' Alllison Pecorin


Objection made for Pennsylvania, House and Senate to vote

As certification of the vote continues in Congress, an objection was made to electors from the state of Pennsylvania, which was supported by both a Republican representative and a senator, forcing a vote.

GOP Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania objected to the state's electoral count, and said he was joined by 80 of his Republican colleagues.

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley objected for the Senate.

The Joint Session of Congress is now on hold, so that the respective chambers can split up for two hours of debate. In the Senate, they chose to skip debate and immediately moved to vote.

When both do vote, the objection is expected to fail, as the one over Arizona's electors did previously.

Earlier, GOP Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama attempted to object to the electoral college votes from Nevada, but because no senators joined him, the objection was not sustained.

"Unfortunately, no United States senator has joined in this effort," Brooks said.

ABC News' Mariam Khan.


Objection to Georgia, Michigan electoral votes fail after no senator signs on

GOP Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia objected to the Georgia electoral votes but said he does not have a senator that will sign on because of the events of Wednesday.

Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler reversed course and said she would not object after the riot activity on the Hill.

After Hice announced senators had withdrawn their objection, there were cheers from the Democratic side.

Additionally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and 70 Republicans are objecting to Michigan, but no senator signed on to support the objection.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan


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.