Giuliani says he won’t be on Trump impeachment defense team

Trump was impeached by the House for a second time last week.

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

The House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump last Wednesday on an article for "incitement of insurrection" for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol -- making him the only president to be impeached twice.


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Republicans claim 'rushed' impeachment would 'inflame' the country

As part of rule debate leading up to debate on the article of impeachment, Republicans have largely focused on procedural concerns, criticizing Democrats for moving quickly to impeach Trump without a full investigation and suggesting the move would further divide Americans.

"I hold him accountable for the attack on the Capitol," newly elected Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said, making her first speech on the House floor.

"If we're serious about healing the divisions in this country, Republicans and Democrats need to recognize that last week wasn't the first day of violence," she continued. "There is violence on both sides of the aisle."

"President Trump will leave office in seven days," Rep. Jason Smith, R-MO, said. "This is a reckless impeachment ... have a conscience."

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, attacked Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern, the chairman of the House Rules Committee, over his 2017 objection to the election results, and accused Democrats of hypocrisy.

McGovern quickly shot back that Democrats and Hillary Clinton recognized Trump's victory -- when Republicans refused to acknowledge Biden's.

"The bottom line is this. This Capitol was stormed -- people died because of the big lies that were being told by this president and by too many other people on this side of the aisle. Enough!" McGovern said. "Coming up on this floor and talking about whataboutism and trying to make these false equivalences -- give me a break."

"The president of the United States instigated an attempted coup in this country," he added. "If this is not an impeachable offense I don't know what the hell is."

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel


Some GOP members rebel against Rep. Liz Cheney

Several conservative House Republicans have criticized Rep. Liz Cheney since she announced she would support impeachment Tuesday evening.

The Wyoming Republican is the chair of the House GOP conference -- the No. 3 leadership position -- and was reelected to by GOP members at the start of this Congress.

"We ought to have a second vote," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters Wednesday about the leadership position. "The conference ought to vote on that."

"She should not be serving this conference," Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said Tuesday.

It's unclear how widespread the effort to remove Cheney from GOP leadership is. But Trump's top allies in the House are using impeachment as an opportunity to kneecap Cheney, a potential future speaker, after months of simmering tensions.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel


House procedural votes on impeachment underway

The House has ended its first round of debate on impeachment and is taking the first procedural vote of the day.

This will likely take roughly 45 minutes to one hour, followed by a second procedural vote on the rule that could take the same amount of time.

After those votes, the House will begin two hours of debate on the impeachment article charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection."

Democrat Rep. James McGovern, the chairman of the House Rules Committee, when closing out the morning debate, said the impeachment vote will show who in Congress stands with the president "no matter what he does" and who stands up to him.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel and Mariam Khan


Dems begin to lay out their case for impeaching Trump

With the first procedural debate wrapped and a second procedural vote on deck, the House of Representatives will soon debate the article of impeachment -- charging the president with "Incitement of insurrection."

At least once during the hearings, lawmakers were reminded by the presiding officer that masks are required on the House floor at all times.

Rep. Sheila Lee Jackson, D-.N.Y., appeared to summarize the heart of Democrats' arguments when speaking ahead of the imminent impeachment vote.

"The president of the United States is an insurrectionist," she said. "He led an insurrection against the United States of America."

"The president provoked these domestic terrorists with words, with actions, with conduct, that portray and have contempt and hostility to the national value of equal justice under the law, telling domestic terrorists -- nearly all of them white supremacists -- many of them who support them politically -- who stormed the Capitol to derail Congress for derailing its constitutional required duty of counting the vote," she said. "He must be impeached because he is a threat."

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a strong critic of Trump's who called to impeach Trump last week while the siege was ongoing, said it's about holding the president accountable, as their oath as lawmakers requires, she said.

"It was a violent attempt to interrupt our democratic process," said Omar, who also called Trump a "tyrant." "We cannot simply move past this or turn the page. For us to be able to survive as a functioning democracy, there has to be accountability."

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel and Mariam Khan


Dems scold Rep. Jim Jordan for continuing to question Biden's win

In an ongoing House Rules Committee hearing about the resolution to call on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, Democrats are pushing back on GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio for continuing to suggest the 2020 election should be investigated for fraud.

When Committee Chair James McGovern, D-Mass., asked Jordan if he will concede that the election was not stolen, Jordan repeated Biden was the president-elect but wouldn't say if, in his view, Biden won fairly.

"He won the election because the way the process works is the last chance to object is Jan. 6, and the objection didn't prevail," Jordan said.

"If we want to talk about healing, we have to talk about truth," McGovern interjected in a contentious exchange. "And if we want to talk about healing, we have to deal with the issue of accountability."

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who authored the resolution, at one point asked if there's anything Trump could possibly do that would cause Jim Jordan to not defend him.

"Even after a mob of violent insurrectionists staged a gallows outside of the Congress and chanted, 'Hang Mike Pence,' even though they tried to force Mike Pence not to do his job, even after five people are dead, we continue to hear these lies and slurs about the 2020 presidential election," Raskin said.

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo, also directly asked Jordan, "Joe Biden won the election, yes or no?"

"Yes, he won. But there are serious problems with this election that deserve an investigation," Jordan said, continuing to air his grievances until Perlmutter interrupted, "I asked you a yes or no question. Please! We're trying to bring this nation back together. Jim, please!"

Jordan, a Trump loyalist, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump in a closed ceremony at the White House on Monday.