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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Spanberger on Trump’s impeachment, Capitol riot ‘false equivalencies’ to BLM
Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger called it “a point of sadness” after she joined her fellow Democrats and some Republicans Wednesday to vote to impeach Trump.
“Impeachment is necessary at this point in time because we have to make a clear statement that the incitement of an insurrection by a sitting U.S. president is absolutely unacceptable,” she told ABC's “Nightline.”
She acknowledged how close the president is to the end of his term, but said it’s still necessary to impeach Trump because it’s an “issue of accountability.”
“It’s an issue of law and order. It is an issue of ensuring that every person who holds this office in the future recognizes and knows and understands that in the United States of America, under no circumstances do we accept that the president … would incite a violent mob to insurrection for the purpose of holding onto power. It’s unacceptable, and generations into the future need to know that we believe that to be the case.”
The Democratic congresswoman has served Virginia’s 7th Congressional District since 2019. She said that the riot at the U.S. Capitol building last week during a joint session of Congress was “unimaginable.”
Spanberger also said it’s “ridiculous” to compare the Capitol insurgence to last year’s Black Lives Matter protests like some House Republicans did Wednesday.
“I have categorically denounced violence in all its forms, in any circumstance,” she said. “But this wasn’t violence. This was a domestic terrorist attack perpetrated by insurrectionists who lowered the flag of the United States and raised a flag with one man’s name on it.”
“It couldn’t be more different,” she added, “and false equivalencies are deeply saddening and disheartening, particularly for those of us who have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
-ABC News' Anthony Rivas
Biden calls on Senate to move forward with impeachment, other urgent business
Following the second impeachment of Trump, Biden issued a statement urging the Senate to move forward with impeachment and other urgent business simultaneously.
"Today, the members of the House of Representatives exercised the power granted to them under our Constitution and voted to impeach and hold the president accountable," Biden said in the statement. "It was a bipartisan vote cast by members who followed the Constitution and their conscience."
"The process continues to the Senate," he continued. "This nation also remains in the grip of a deadly virus and a reeling economy. I hope that the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with their Constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of this nation."
Biden stressed that there is too much "urgent work," from confirming his key cabinet nominees to getting the vaccine program and economy on track to not move forward with it.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
Trump condemns violence at Capitol riot in new video
Shortly after he was impeached for the second time, Trump released a video condemning the violence at last week's riot at the Capitol, which he called a calamity.
"I want to be very clear -- I unequivocally condemn the violence that we saw last week, violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country, and no place in our movement," the president said.
"Making America great again has always been about defending the rule of law, supporting the men and women of law enforcement and upholding our nation's most sacred traditions and values," he added. "Mob violence goes against everything I believe in, and everything our movement stands for."
In the video, which was posted to YouTube and the White House Twitter account, Trump said that he directed federal agencies to use "all necessary resources" to maintain order in Washington ahead of Biden's inauguration.
Without mentioning the social media site by name, Trump also seemed to speak to his Twitter ban, saying "the efforts to censor, cancel and blacklist our fellow citizens are wrong and they are dangerous."
"What is needed now is for us to listen to one another. Not silence on another," he added.
The president did not mention impeachment.
Pelosi holds ceremonial engrossment after House impeaches Trump
Not an hour after the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for a second time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House impeachment managers walked across Statuary Hall to the Rayburn Room for a ceremonial engrossment ceremony for the article of impeachment.
The engrossment ceremony is a procedural step that takes the article one step closer to the Senate trial.
"Today in a bipartisan way, the House demonstrated that no one is above the law -- not even the president of the United States -- that Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our country," Pelosi said, preparing to sign off on the engrossment. "And now, I sadly, with a heart broken over what this means to our country of a president who would incite insurrection will sign the address of the article of impeachment."
Pelosi was joined for the ceremony by the nine House impeachment managers -- one of the rarest assignments for a House member.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a former constitutional law professor who co-authored the article and whose family was present at the Capitol during last Wednesday's riot a day after burying Raskin's son, is serving as the lead impeachment manager. The other managers are Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado, David Cicilline or Rhode Island, Joaquin Castro of Texas, Eric Swalwell of California, Ted Lieu of California, Joe Neguse of Colorado and Madeleine Dean, of Pennsylvania. and Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands.
While Pelosi has declined to yet say publicly when the House will send the article over to the Senate, a source involved in the Democratic leadership deliberations told ABC News earlier Wednesday that Pelosi planned to send the article to the Senate next week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released a statement after the House voted to impeach Trump indicating the Senate trial should take place after Trump leaves office -- a message to Pelosi to wait to send the article.
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."