Yahoo News Trump news: House to hold impeachment vote on Wednesday as president ‘warned not to pardon himself’
The US House of Representatives has introduced articles of impeachment against Donald Trump following his incitement of an insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January, as a joint session of Congress convened to formally certify the results of the 2020 election the president has sought to overturn.
House Republicans blocked a measure calling on Mike Pence and the Trump cabinet to remove the president by invoking the 25th Amendment, delaying consideration of that measure until Tuesday. The House will vote on impeachment on Wednesday.
GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has instead floated “four potential avenues" to “ensure that the events of January 6 are rightfully denounced and prevented from occurring the future” – though his suggestions don’t mention Trump, nor any other congressional Republicans who indulged his conspiracies about voted fraud and manipulation.
Watch: The presidency and the law
First lady Melania Trump has praised the “passion” of Trump supporters in a statement in which she also criticised the violence.
“I am disappointed and disheartened with what happened last week,” she said, adding that she was inspired “to see that so many have found a passion and enthusiasm in participating in an election."
Her comments came amid an escalating effort among lawmakers in Washington to remove the president from office, following his incendiary remarks at a rally shortly before his supporters stormed the halls of Congress. The president has reportedly mulled whether to pardon himself, though it’s unclear how we would do so.
At least two Capitol police officers have been suspended in the wake of the attack, and more than a dozen others are under investigation, according to the House subcommittee chair overseeing law enforcement’s response.
The vice president has also reportedly vowed to remain alongside the president through the remainder of his time in office, appearing to shut down calls that he will make moves to remove the president from office.
Chad Wolf, acting chief of the Department of Homeland Security, has resigned from the administration, despite his insistence that he would remain through the end of Trump’s term. He is the third cabinet official to resign in the aftermath of Capitol violence.
Meanwhile, right-wing social media app Parler – where its “free speech” ethos allowed calls for violence and insurrection to fester – has since been removed from the internet by Amazon, which had provided the online tools needed to run the app.
Amazon had told Parler that it had seen “a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms." On Friday, the app was removed from Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
Follow live updates as they happened:
What is impeachment, who invokes it and what is the House voting on?
Melania has ‘blood on her hands’ over Capitol riots, says ex-aide
Watch: House Democrats present articles of impeachment
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Can Donald Trump pardon himself?
Read in full: The House impeachment article against Donald Trump
What is happening with impeaching Trump?
