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.
Top headlines:
McConnell has 'not made a final decision' on whether he would vote to remove Trump
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a note to Republican colleagues Wednesday afternoon, as the House debated the expected impeachment of President Trump, stating that he has not made a final decision on how he would vote in an impeachment trial.
“While the press has been full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate," said the note McConnell's team passed along.
The message comes after House GOP leadership said they would not encourage members to vote for or against Democrats' impeachment push, according to House leadership aides, but to “vote their conscience.”
At least six House Republicans -- including No. 3 Rep. Liz Cheney -- have announced they will vote to impeach the president.
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin
GOP knocks 'rushed' process, calls for unity in wake of Capitol violence
Following several Republicans who aired their grievances with a "rushed" process, Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, condemned Trump for pressing Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election but argued he couldn't support the impeachment article as written.
"Let us condemn which must be condemned but do it the right way with deliberation and without disastrous side effects. We must end tearing apart our nation by social media and sound bite," Roy said.
Another Texas Republican, Rep. Jodey Arrington, expressed some discontent at the president's rhetoric but suggested it would set a dangerous precedent to pin the actions of his supporters at the Capitol on the president.
"I'm not saying that the president didn't exercise poor judgment, but to criminalize political speech by blaming lawless acts on the president's rhetoric is wrong and a very dangerous precedent," he said to groans from Democrats. "The criminals who stormed the Capitol that day acted on their own volition. They are responsible. This is an important moment for our nation. We have to come together."
While other Republicans didn't go so far as to directly condemn Trump, they all condemned the violence at the Capitol -- but argued it was time for unity and healing, instead of an impeachment with one week until Biden's inauguration.
Democrats, however, rejected that stance.
"A police officer was killed. And what I hear from the other side is that it's time to heal? He's not even buried yet!" Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., scolded his colleagues.
"If he has four years or four days, we must do the right thing for all Americans because he must be held accountable," he added.
Republicans argued there had been no hearings or witnesses called in the Judiciary Committee, to which Democrats responded that the lawmakers themselves witnessed the violence and immediate action must be taken to avoid further threats.
-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel
Senate will not return early for impeachment trial
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office has confirmed the Senate will not return early for an impeachment trial.
The GOP leader spoke to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and said he has no intention of invoking any emergency authority the leaders have to jointly call the Senate back.
That means the earliest the trial can start is Jan. 19 -- the same day as the first confirmation hearing for one of Biden's Cabinet picks and one day before Biden's inauguration. It's unclear how those events might be affected as Trump is poised to be impeached in the House later Wednesday.
-ABC News' Trish Turner (edited)
Dems paint Trump as looming threat to the nation
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo, a former Army Ranger with multiple combat deployments, called on his Republican colleagues to find the courage to vote to impeach Trump.
"Last week I stood in that gallery to defend this chamber against the violent mob called here by Donald Trump. I have dedicated my life to the defense of our nation and Donald Trump is a risk to all that I love," he said. "I'm not asking you to storm the beaches of Normandy, but show a fraction of the courage we ask of our troops every day. Leadership is hard. It's time to impeach."
Freshman progressive Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., who introduced a resolution on the House floor Monday seeking to expel lawmakers who still voted to overturn the election after the Capitol siege, was met with boos from Republicans after her remarks in which she called Trump "a white supremacist president."
"If we fail to remove a white supremacist president, who incited a white supremacist insurrection, it's communities like Missouri's 1st District that suffer the most," she said.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a staunch critic of Trump's, warned earlier, "He is capable of starting a Civil War."
Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, as with many Democrats before her, have called on Trump not only to be impeached but to "never be allowed to hold office again."
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney: 'I will vote to impeach the President'
House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney -- the No. 3 Republican in the House and highest-ranking woman in the Republican Party -- has announced she will vote to impeach Trump for inciting an insurrection at the Capitol.
"Much more will become clear in coming days and weeks, but what we know now is enough," she said in a statement. "The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. None of this would have happened without the President. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not."
"There has never been a greater betrayal by a President of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution," she said.
Her announcement follows Republican Rep. John Katko of New York becoming the first House Republican to say he will support House Democrats' efforts to remove Trump from office through impeachment.