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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House passes 25th Amendment resolution, Pence said he won't act

The House voted 223-205, on H.Res. 21, which calls on Vice President Mike Pence to exercise his power under the 25th Amendment to convene the Cabinet and remove President Donald Trump from office.

"He is not protecting and defending the democracy itself, the process of electing the president. He is not respecting the peaceful transfer of power," Rep. Jamie Raskin D-Md. said of Trump during the hearing Tuesday night. "He is not taking care that the laws are faithfully executed. He is not protecting the republic against mob insurrection, invasion and hostility."

One Republican, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, voted in favor of the symbolic measure.

It is a nonbinding resolution that carries no force of the law.

Pence already Tuesday said he will not invoke the 25th Amendment.

"Last week I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation," Pence said in a letter Tuesday.

Democrats are expected to vote in an article of impeachment against Trump Wednesday. At least four Republicans have said they will vote to impeach Trump.

ABC News' Mariam Khan


House debating resolution on 25th Amendment

The House is now debating the merits of the resolution that calls on Vice President Mike Pence and members of the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Given Pence's announcement earlier that he is not going to do so, this debate and vote are considered to be largely symbolic.

Members will be debating for one hour, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. The final vote on the resolution is expected to begin by 10:30 p.m.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., kicked off the debate. Raskin authored the 25th Amendment resolution.

During a procedural vote ahead of the debate, the House voted to authorize fines against lawmakers who don't wear masks on the House floor: $500 for a first offense, $2,500 for the next. It gets taken out of their paychecks.


Rep. Torres tells ABC News about coping with trauma and wanting justice

Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., told ABC's "Nightline" that 12 of the representatives who were locked down during the Capitol siege Wednesday are in a group chat to "to help each other heal."

"We've been working with each other through this process of healing ourselves," said Torres. "It's incredible that we survived."

Torres, who immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala when she was 5 years old, said that Trump's decision to visit the border wall in El Paso, Texas, rather than address the Capitol riots or ongoing pandemic, was personally hurtful.

"The president of the United States chooses to close out his four-year term by continuing to incite racism, promote racism and incite violence against Americans like myself," she said.

On Wednesday, Torres made an emotional plea on the House floor to Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office.

"It is not about my life. It is not about his life. Members of Congress come and go. So will presidents and vice presidents. But our Constitution is to stand in," she told ABC News after her passionate speech. "Our democracy is worth it, (it) is worth upholding. And this is the moment where courage under fire means something."


Some Republicans angry about metal detectors at entrance to House floor

As the House begins voting Tuesday evening, some Republican members are furious about the installation of metal detectors, accusing Democrats of trying to score political points and diverting Capitol Police resources.

When Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., the top Republican on the Committee on House Administration, complained to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer in front of reporters, Hoyer said, "Rodney, we're all going through magnetometers."

Davis shot back, "I just went through one. You know the threat on the interior side of the building. You're taking valuable resources completely away from where it needs to be, and you did it without any consultation with the minority."

"Don't touch me," Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said to a Capitol Police officer.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a conservative whose insistence on carrying a gun around Capitol Hill has alarmed Democrats -- and some members of her own party -- refused to allow Capitol Police officers to search her bag. After a couple of minutes she was allowed into the chamber, but it's not clear if she was searched, according to pool reporters on the scene.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel


Pelosi 1st to speak as House debates unprecedented 2nd Trump impeachment

After the House Reading Clerk concluded reading the full impeachment resolution against President Trump, the House has proceeded with the session by kicking off two hours of debate on the article on impeachment charging Trump with inciting an insurrection. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the first to deliver remarks and called Trump “a clear and present danger” to the country.

"The president of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country. He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love," Pelosi said. "Since the presidential election in November, an election the president lost, he has repeatedly lied about the outcome, sowed self-serving doubt about democracy and unconstitutionally sought to influence state officials to repeal reality."

"My fellow members, my fellow Americans, we cannot escape history. Let us embrace our duty, fulfill our oath, and honor the trust of our nation. And we pray that God will continue to bless America," she added, calling on the House to vote to impeach Trump and for the Senate to vote to convict him.

A spokesperson for Pelosi confirmed to ABC News she is wearing same outfit Wednesday that she wore for Trump's last impeachment vote on Dec. 18, 2019.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel