Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on Friday called on Twitter to suspend President Donald Trump's account in the run-up to Inauguration Day, saying it would be "in the best interest of our national security and public safety." 

Twitter removed three tweets from Trump's account Wednesday and suspended it for 12 hours after he continued to push conspiracy theories about the election following the riot in the U.S. Capitol. The company also warned that further violations of its rules would result in the "permanent suspension" of Trump's account.

Former first lady Michelle Obama also called on Twitter and other social media networks to permanently ban Trump, in a statement posted to her social media accounts Thursday.

Trump has not tweeted since posting remarks Thursday night in which he condemned the rioters and said there would be a smooth transition of power on Jan. 20, a remarkable about-face that comes amid growing calls for his removal.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has ordered the flags at the Capitol to be flown at half-staff in honor of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, the speaker's deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, said on Twitter.

Sicknick was injured while engaging with protesters Wednesday and returned to his division office, where he collapsed, Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki said in a statement Thursday night. He was taken to a hospital, where he died at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

As mobs stormed the building at the heart of American democracy Wednesday, stunned U.S. officials, among them a former president, reached for the same phrase to draw comparisons: "banana republic."

"This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic republic," former President George W. Bush said in a statement.

His sentiment more colorfully echoed on Twitter by Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis.: "We are witnessing absolute banana republic crap in the United States Capitol right now."

While Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a former presidential candidate, tweeted, "This is 3rd world style anti-American anarchy."

But American comparisons of the violent and frenzied pro-Trump mobs who plunged the Capitol into chaos, leaving at least five dead, with events in countries in the so-called Third World, have been met with derision and offense by many who live and work in developing countries.

Read the full story here

House Democratic leaders are eyeing a vote on articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump as early as the middle of next week, Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark said Friday.

"We know that we have limited time, but that every day that Donald Trump is president of the United States, is a day of grave danger. So we can use procedural tools to get articles of impeachment to the floor for a House vote quickly," Clark, D-Mass., said on CNN’s "New Day."

Asked how early the House Judiciary Committee could bring the articles to the floor, Clark said, "That will be ... as early as mid-next week."

Democratic leaders met Thursday evening to discuss how to remove the president from office, according to a member of Congress who was in the room. They discussed how to expedite the process and could call the House back into session as soon as Monday.

Read the story.

LONDON — For America's adversaries, there was no greater proof of the fallibility of Western democracy than the sight of the U.S. Capitol shrouded in smoke and besieged by a mob whipped up by their unwillingly outgoing president.

Already China, Iran and Russia have pointed to the tumult in Washington as evidence that the much-vaunted U.S. system of government is fundamentally flawed and riddled with hypocrisy.

Across Europe there is grave concern, too. Not just at the division and instability rocking their powerful trans-Atlantic ally, but also at what it means for their relationship with Washington after President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated in two weeks.

Many question how the U.S. can ever again lecture other countries about democratic values or how it can tell other countries that they aren't internally stable enough to have nuclear weapons.

Read the full story here

Five officials at the Federal Aviation Administration, the entire non-career political staff except the agency's administrator, have resigned, according to an email sent by the FAA's chief-of-staff to senior managers on Thursday evening and obtained by NBC News.

"This evening, the Secretary and the Administrator received resignation letters from all our non-career staff members here at FAA. These resignations will be effective Monday evening. Our colleagues’ decisions, given the gravity of yesterday’s events, are understandable. Like all of us, they are outraged by the brazen and violent attack on one of the sacred institutions of American democracy," said Angela Stubblefield. 

The assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, Elinore F. McCance-Katz, at the Department of Health and Human Services also resigned on Thursday, according to a statement she released. She said that she had planned to stay on until Biden became president but her plans "abruptly changed" after she saw the violent takeover of the Capitol.

"I believe that this behavior was totally unacceptable and, in my own heart, I simply am not able to continue," she wrote, and then subtly implied that Trump is to blame. "Because I believe that the mental health of our people has suffered so greatly under the stresses of COVID-19, the social justice issues that have been so painful for so many, and now with the rending of our nation over questions raised about the presidential election, I cannot support language that results in incitement of violence and risks our very existence."

More than 200 members of Congress are calling for Trump to be removed from office either through the 25th Amendment, impeachment or the president resigning. That's up from 100 lawmakers on Thursday morning, hours after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.

The group of lawmakers includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and presumptive Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who publicly urged Vice President Mike Pence yesterday to meet with the president's Cabinet and invoke the 25th Amendment. Pelosi made clear that the House is prepared to move forward with impeachment if Pence decides not to take action. He said Thursday he opposes using the 25th Amendment. 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is the lone Republican explicitly calling on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, though Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, said in a local TV interview Thursday, "If the Cabinet decided to do that, I would not oppose it." 

A U.S. Capitol Police officer has died a day after clashing with a pro-Trump mob at the Capitol.

Officer Brian D. Sicknick was injured while engaging with protesters Wednesday and returned to his division office, where he collapsed, Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki said. He was taken to a local hospital where he died about 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

Sicknick, who joined the Capitol Police department in 2008, is the fifth person to die from Wednesday's violent clash in Washington.

Read the full story here.