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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Republicans claim 'rushed' impeachment would 'inflame' the country

As part of rule debate leading up to debate on the article of impeachment, Republicans have largely focused on procedural concerns, criticizing Democrats for moving quickly to impeach Trump without a full investigation and suggesting the move would further divide Americans.

"I hold him accountable for the attack on the Capitol," newly elected Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said, making her first speech on the House floor.

"If we're serious about healing the divisions in this country, Republicans and Democrats need to recognize that last week wasn't the first day of violence," she continued. "There is violence on both sides of the aisle."

"President Trump will leave office in seven days," Rep. Jason Smith, R-MO, said. "This is a reckless impeachment ... have a conscience."

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, attacked Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern, the chairman of the House Rules Committee, over his 2017 objection to the election results, and accused Democrats of hypocrisy.

McGovern quickly shot back that Democrats and Hillary Clinton recognized Trump's victory -- when Republicans refused to acknowledge Biden's.

"The bottom line is this. This Capitol was stormed -- people died because of the big lies that were being told by this president and by too many other people on this side of the aisle. Enough!" McGovern said. "Coming up on this floor and talking about whataboutism and trying to make these false equivalences -- give me a break."

"The president of the United States instigated an attempted coup in this country," he added. "If this is not an impeachable offense I don't know what the hell is."

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel


Some GOP members rebel against Rep. Liz Cheney

Several conservative House Republicans have criticized Rep. Liz Cheney since she announced she would support impeachment Tuesday evening.

The Wyoming Republican is the chair of the House GOP conference -- the No. 3 leadership position -- and was reelected to by GOP members at the start of this Congress.

"We ought to have a second vote," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters Wednesday about the leadership position. "The conference ought to vote on that."

"She should not be serving this conference," Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said Tuesday.

It's unclear how widespread the effort to remove Cheney from GOP leadership is. But Trump's top allies in the House are using impeachment as an opportunity to kneecap Cheney, a potential future speaker, after months of simmering tensions.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel


House procedural votes on impeachment underway

The House has ended its first round of debate on impeachment and is taking the first procedural vote of the day.

This will likely take roughly 45 minutes to one hour, followed by a second procedural vote on the rule that could take the same amount of time.

After those votes, the House will begin two hours of debate on the impeachment article charging Trump with "incitement of insurrection."

Democrat Rep. James McGovern, the chairman of the House Rules Committee, when closing out the morning debate, said the impeachment vote will show who in Congress stands with the president "no matter what he does" and who stands up to him.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel and Mariam Khan


Dems begin to lay out their case for impeaching Trump

With the first procedural debate wrapped and a second procedural vote on deck, the House of Representatives will soon debate the article of impeachment -- charging the president with "Incitement of insurrection."

At least once during the hearings, lawmakers were reminded by the presiding officer that masks are required on the House floor at all times.

Rep. Sheila Lee Jackson, D-.N.Y., appeared to summarize the heart of Democrats' arguments when speaking ahead of the imminent impeachment vote.

"The president of the United States is an insurrectionist," she said. "He led an insurrection against the United States of America."

"The president provoked these domestic terrorists with words, with actions, with conduct, that portray and have contempt and hostility to the national value of equal justice under the law, telling domestic terrorists -- nearly all of them white supremacists -- many of them who support them politically -- who stormed the Capitol to derail Congress for derailing its constitutional required duty of counting the vote," she said. "He must be impeached because he is a threat."

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., a strong critic of Trump's who called to impeach Trump last week while the siege was ongoing, said it's about holding the president accountable, as their oath as lawmakers requires, she said.

"It was a violent attempt to interrupt our democratic process," said Omar, who also called Trump a "tyrant." "We cannot simply move past this or turn the page. For us to be able to survive as a functioning democracy, there has to be accountability."

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel and Mariam Khan


Rep. Raskin tells ABC News’ ‘Start Here’ about barricading with his family in the Capitol

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., joined ABC News’ “Start Here” to talk about the efforts in Congress to remove Trump from office and also described his experience at the Capitol during the riot, which also happened to be the day after his family had buried his son.

“We experienced a terrible family catastrophe and we had to bury my son on Tuesday. And then on Wednesday, I had to go in for the Electoral College count,” Raskin told ABC News' daily news podcast. “And our youngest daughter, Tabitha, said, ‘Daddy, don't go. I want you to stay home.’ And I said, I would love to be home, but I have to go in because this is a constitutional responsibility. And I've agreed also to be one of the floor managers for the Democratic side in debating these objections to the electors."

Raskin told “Start Here” that he brought Tabitha and a son-in-law who is married to his other daughter with him to the House chamber. They all had to shelter-in-place when the rioters broke into the Capitol.

“They ended up barricaded in a locked office off of ... the House chamber hiding under a desk as people pounded on the door. They heard the same sickening sounds I heard of people trying to barrel into the House chamber,” he said. "Listen to the stories of people who lived through this nightmare. You know, this is not some abstract question about Donald Trump just pocketing emoluments. He helped to unleash a furious savage mob on the Congress of the United States, our staffs, and in my case, on members of my family.”