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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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."


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


Pelosi says managers are 'preparing' for Trump's impeachment trial

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday that "our managers are solemnly and prayerfully preparing" for Trump's impeachment trial, "which they will take to the Senate."

"Justice is called for as we address the active insurrection that was perpetrated against the Capitol complex last week," Pelosi said during her weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C.

Pelosi did not specify when the article of impeachment will be sent to the Senate, prompting the trial. According to Senate rules, the trial would begin the day after the impeachment charge is sent over by the House of Representatives.

"You'll be the first to know when we announce that we're going over there," she told reporters.

Pelosi noted how quickly the House voted to impeach the president, just one week after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which she said was "incentivised" by Trump.

"So urgent was the matter," she told reporters.

When asked about the role members of Congress may have played in the riot, Pelosi said they would be held accountable.

"If it in fact it is found that members of Congress were accomplices to this insurrection, if they aided and abetted the crime," she said, "there may have to be actions taken beyond the Congress in terms of prosecution."

The speaker also announced that she's asked retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore -- who helped coordinate the military relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina -- to lead an "immediate review" of security failings at the Capitol, reviewing security infrastructure, the interagency process, and command and control.

At the start of Friday's press conference, Pelosi quoted Martin Luther King Jr., saying, "True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel