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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6th House Republican backs impeachment

GOP Rep. Dan Newhouse, Wash., issued a statement saying he would vote yes on the article of impeachment shortly before speaking on the House floor.

"These articles of impeachment are flawed, but I will not use process as an excuse. There's no excuse for President Trump's actions," Newhouse said.

"Last week there was a domestic threat at the door of the Capitol, and he did nothing to stop it. That is why with a heavy heart and clear resolve I will vote yes on these articles of impeachment."

Roughly two dozen Democrats on the House floor applauded Newhouse when he announced his plans to vote to impeach Trump.

Shortly after, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., said she will also vote to impeach Trump in her floor marks. She had previously announced her intentions to break from the president, and said on the floor it's not a "fear-based decision."

No House Republicans voted to impeach Trump in 2019.

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel


Trump issues statement calling for ‘NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism’

As the House debates impeaching him a second time, President Donald Trump issued a statement Wednesday urging for “‘NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism.’

“In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind,” Trump said in the statement.

“That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for,” he added. “I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. Thank You.”

-ABC News' Elizabeth Thomas


Liz Cheney to GOP: 'I'm not going anywhere'

After several conservative House Republicans aligned with Trump criticized Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney -- the No. 3 in GOP leadership -- after she announced she would support impeachment Tuesday evening, Cheney fired back to their calls to step down through reporters on Capitol Hill.

"I'm not going anywhere," she said Wednesday afternoon. "This is a vote of conscience. It's one where there are different views in our conference. But our nation is facing an unprecedented, since the Civil War, constitutional crisis. That's what we need to be focused on. That's where our efforts and attention need to be."

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel and Mariam Khan


GOP leader says fact-finding mission and censure resolution 'would be prudent,' opposing impeachment

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy delivered a speech on the House floor against impeaching Trump, arguing that a vote to impeach would "fan the flames of partisan division" and that instead the president could bear responsibility through a censure resolution.

McCarthy began by condemning last week's attack on the Capitol as "undemocratic, un-American and criminal," and although there to defend him, quickly broke from the president in making the distinction that antifa was not to blame for the violence, as Trump has privately suggested.

"Some say the riots were caused by antifa. There is absolutely no evidence of that. And conservatives should be the first to say so," McCarthy said, calling on his colleagues.

"I believe impeaching the president in such a short timeframe would be a mistake," McCarthy said, notably not directly defending his actions as unimpeachable but taking issue with the timing.

"A vote to impeach will further divide the nation. A vote to impeach will further fan the flames of partisan division," he said. "That doesn't mean the president is free from fault."

McCarthy suggested that "a fact-finding commission and a censure resolution would be prudent" but "unfortunately, that is not where we are today." He stressed it's a time "to unite once again as Americans."


GOP, Dems deliver closing arguments ahead of vote with scathing rebuke of Trump from Hoyer

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. -- the No. 2 Republican in the House -- was the last to speak for the Republican Party, said he opposed the "rushed" impeachment, and emphasized that the Senate will only be able to take up the trial once Trump is out of office.

"I've seen the dark evil of political violence firsthand. And it needs to stop. But all of us need to be unequivocal in calling it out every single time we see it, not just when it comes from the other side of the aisle," he said.

Invoking President Abraham Lincoln, he closed by calling on Americans to unify and "seek higher ground."

House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., quickly responded to his remarks, saying, "We can have all this, and we can have accountability too," before handing off to Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

Hoyer, in a scathing rebuke of the president, repeated the words of Rep. Liz Cheney and called on his Republicans colleagues to rise to the moment and join her to "reject the vices we abhore."

"It is the first and only physical presence other than the 9/11 attack on this nation -- which came from abroad with a plane aimed at our Capitol dome. This attack was not from abroad. It was as Liz Cheney said, summoned, assembled, and inflamed by the president of the United States of America," he said.

"Last Wednesday, on Jan. 6, the nation and the world watched it shatter to pieces. There could be no mistaking any longer the kind of man sitting in the Oval Office or his intentions and capabilities. The curtain has been pulled back. The office to which he was elected could not temper or reform him," Hoyer said.

"Reject deceit. Reject fear mongering. Reject sedition, tyranny and insurrection," Hoyer said. "Reject one man over fidelity to one's country."

Hoyer noted that soon the House Reading Clerk will call the roll for voting, and added, "Make no mistake, this will be no ordinary roll call."

"These votes will be inscribed on the roll of history -- a record of courage -- and of our commitment to country and Constitution, of our commitment to the rule of law and renewal of that which we inherited and hope to pass on, unbroken, unshattered," he said. "Vote for this -- for America, for our constitution, for democracy, for history."