WASHINGTON (AP) – The latest news about President Donald Trump and the impeachment (all local time):
10:10 am
Majority leader in the House, Jim Clyburn, said the House could vote this week for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, but postpone sending the legislation to the Senate until many of the secretaries in President Joe Biden’s office are confirmed for their positions.
The South Carolina Democrat said “it could be Tuesday or Wednesday before action is taken, but I think it will be done this week”.
Clyburn says he is concerned that a Senate trial could distract from the process of confirming Biden’s nominees.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said an impeachment trial could begin as early as January 20 – the day of the inauguration.
Clyburn told CNN’s “State of the Union” that McConnell was trying to be “disturbing”, but that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will decide when to appoint impeachment administrators and submit the articles to the Senate.
One option, Clyburn says, would be to give Biden the “100 days he needs to get his agenda up and running, and maybe we’ll send the articles some time later.”
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HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IMPEACHMENT PUSH AT THE CONGRESS:
Democrats in Congress are making plans to impeach President Donald Trump and ensure that an “unbalanced” commander in chief – in the words of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – cannot do any more damage in his remaining days in office. They are trying to send a message to the nation, and to the world, that the mob violence at the Capitol last week, inspired by the White House, will not end.
Read More:
– Silenced by Twitter, Trump seeks new megaphone online
– Pope prays for those killed in Capitol riots, calls for calm
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HERE IS HAPPENING:
9:40
A second Republican senator asked President Donald Trump to step down after the Capitol riots last week.
This time it is Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. He is asking Trump to step down for what Toomey says would be good for the country after the Capitol rebellion that was carried out by supporters of the president.
Toomey says dismissal is “the best way forward, the best way to put that person in the rearview mirror for us.” But Toomey says he is not optimistic about Trump’s resignation before his term ends on January 20.
Toomey also says that Trump’s role in encouraging the riot is an “impeachable offense”.
Toomey is the second Republican senator to resign Trump, joining Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
Trump supporters, who were furious at his defeat for Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, stormed the Capitol on Wednesday. Five people were killed.
Toomey was interviewed on Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” and NBC’s “Meet the Press”.
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12:15 pm
President Donald Trump is facing growing democratic momentum to challenge him a second time.
And a leading Republican, Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, says he thinks Trump’s role in encouraging a deadly riot on Capitol Hill is an “impeachable offense”.
But Toomey is almost saying he would vote to remove Trump from office.
A Democratic congressman, David Cicciline, of Rhode Island, says that an impeachment proposal already has 185 co-sponsors. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is telling fellow Democrats to prepare to return to Washington next week.
Pelosi says Trump should be held responsible, but she has not committed to an impeachment vote.