Democratic leaders in Congress will move on newly drafted articles of impeachment as soon as next week against President Donald Trump if he doesn't first resign, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.
The news comes as Pelosi, D-Calif., reiterated her and presumptive Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's, D-N.Y., demand in a letter to her caucus Friday afternoon that Vice President Mike Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office before President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration.
Pelosi also said she spoke to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley on Friday morning about preventing Trump from launching a nuclear strike. "The situation of this unhinged president could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy," she wrote.
This live coverage has ended.
Read the highlights:
— Twitter permanently suspends Trump's personal account.
— Read the full text of draft of new articles of impeachment against Trump.
— Trump says he won't attend Biden's inauguration.
— Clyburn says House should make Trump only president to be impeached twice.
— No evidence of antifa involvement in Capitol mob, FBI says.
— Troubled by Capitol riot, Cabinet officials DeVos, Chao resign.
2 Seattle officers on leave after reports they were in D.C. during riot
Two Seattle police officers are on leave after reports they were in Washington, D.C., Wednesday when a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, the police chief said.
Chief Adrian Diaz said in a statement that the department was made aware Friday that at least two officers were reportedly in the nation's capital on the day of the riot. The statement does not allege any illegal actions.
"The Department fully supports all lawful expressions of First Amendment freedom of speech, but the violent mob and events that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol were unlawful and resulted in the death of another police officer," Diaz said.
"If any SPD officers were directly involved in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, I will immediately terminate them," he said.
The officers have been placed on administrative leave while the police accountability office investigates, police said. The office is an independent body that deals with allegations of misconduct.
Five people died in and around the riot at the U.S. Capitol, including Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick who died Thursday of injuries suffered while "physically engaging with protesters," police said.
McConnell sends potential impeachment timeline memo to Senate Republicans
Late Friday, NBC News has obtained a memo circulated to Senate Republicans by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell entitled “Impeachment Procedure Summary.”
The memo lays out a timeline for a potential impeachment trial, and states that without a unanimous consent agreement from all 100 Senators to bring the Senate back from recess on the next 10 days, the soonest the Senate could receive articles of impeachment from the House would be on January 19th.
This memo essentially states that if Democrats want to impeach President Trump, it will take up floor time during the first moments of Joe Biden’s presidency, and a Democratic Congress.
A source familiar said that Republican Leader McConnell and Democratic Leader Schumer were briefed by the Senate parliamentarian today.
Republican AGs group sent robocalls urging march to Capitol
An arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a national group representing the top law enforcement officers in their states, sent out robocalls encouraging people to march to the U.S. Capitol the day before the building was stormed by a pro-Trump mob.
“At 1:00 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal,” said the voice on the recording, which was obtained by NBC News.
The calls, which did not advocate violence or suggest the building should be breached, was sent out by the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a fundraising arm of the Republican Attorneys General Association. The groups share funding, staff and office space in Washington, D.C.
In a statement to NBC News, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who runs the fund, said the calls were sent out without his knowledge.
“I was unaware of unauthorized decisions made by RLDF staff with regard to this week’s rally,” said Marshall, who assumed his role Nov. 10.
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Capitol riots renew calls for D.C. to become 51st state
The aftermath of the violence on Wednesday as police lost control of the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol renewed calls for Washington, D.C., to become the 51st state.
“We must get statehood on the president’s desk within the first 100 days of the 117th Congress,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Thursday. “Congress must immediately transfer command of the District of Columbia National Guard from the president of the United States and put it squarely under the command and control of the District of Columbia.”
It took hours for National Guard to be deployed as lawmakers, staff and reporters took cover from pro-Trump rioters storming the halls of Congress who were being met with little resistance from outnumbered Capitol officers.
Under law, the federal government controls the D.C. National Guard — meaning Bowser had no say over the matter as she watched her city get torn apart. Over the summer during the Black Lives Matter protests, President Trump promptly deployed National Guard and other federal protective services to counter largely-peaceful demonstrators.
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Trump circumvents Twitter ban with POTUS account, vowing to take on social media giant
President Trump tweeted Friday night from the official POTUS Twitter account, vowing to fight the social media giant for its permanent suspension of his personal account.
However, those tweets, which a harangue about silencing free speech, were quickly removed.
Trump promised to fight back against the social media giant and possible create a platform of his own.
Michael Cohen says he's cooperating with agencies looking into Trump and family
Flashback: Harris called on Twitter to suspend Trump's account in Oct. 2019 debate
Back when she was still a presidential candidate, Vice president-elect Kamala Harris had called on Twitter to suspend President Trump’s Twitter account, saying he violated their terms of service.
Her stance made headlines in the October presidential debate in Ohio when she called on Elizabeth Warren to join her and Warren denied. Harris’ stance, for the most part, was questioned and called a debate stunt.
She also had penned a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explaining her stance and Twitter at the time responded with a blog post explaining their position.