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House impeaches Trump for role in deadly Capitol riot

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes, Melissa Mahtani, Fernando Alfonso III and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 8:54 a.m. ET, January 14, 2021

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8:41 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

The House will vote to impeach Trump today. Here's how we expect the day to go.

From CNN's Lauren Fox

A general view of the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C. on January 13. Joshua Roberts/Reuters

The House is meeting today to vote to impeach President Trump a second time. Lawmakers will convene at 9 a.m. ET.

Here's how we expect the day to play out:

The first debate: It will last begin after the House convenes and will about an hour and it will revolve around the rules governing the impeachment article.
After that: The House votes on the rule. Remember: Voting in the House takes time because of coronavirus protocols (and now metal detectors, which was its own scene last night as Republicans lashed out at police and fellow members when they were asked to go through them to get to the House floor.)
Once the House passes the rule in the early afternoon: Representatives will proceed to a two-hour debate.
The final vote: We expect it will begin between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET.

As with all important votes in times of coronavirus, these things are a bit fluid. But the bottom line is this: This will pass.

8:18 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

After testing positive, House Democrat says some Republicans' refusal to wear masks “enrages” her

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington tested positive for Covid-19 after sheltering in place with members of Congress who did not wear masks during the violent attack on the US Capitol last week.

“The callousness, the cruelty, the idiocy…is really beyond belief,” Jayapal said.

“What really enrages me is the way in which we were in a secure location, locked down, over a hundred people in that room, and Republicans refused to wear a mask,” she said to CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.

She said she experienced some mild flu-like symptoms, including a fever, chills and a sore throat.

She is confident that she was infected on Wednesday because she got a test on Tuesday before the Capitol riot and tested negative at the end of the day, she said.

She’ll be voting by proxy today on impeachment, she added.

Jayapal said she “gives credit” to GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, the party's third-ranking House leader, for announcing that she will vote to impeach President Trump.

“The GOP is cleaving before us as we see it. And, you know, hopefully, when people see her, that will give others some strength to also do the same thing,” she said.

Watch the interview:

8:05 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

House Majority Leader says impeachment article will be sent over to the Senate "within a very short time"

From CNN's Manu Raju

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer walks through the U.S. Capitol on January 12, in Washington, DC. Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters late last night that the article won’t be held back by the House and the “presumption is within a very short time” it will be transmitted to the Senate.

Asked if the House would hold back the articles, Hoyer said emphatically: “No.”

With the Senate out of session, that would very likely mean the trial would start in the first days of Biden’s term, unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agrees to bring the chamber back.

His office has not commented on Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer’s proposal to bring the chamber back early, but the expectation is that the trial won’t begin before Trump leaves office.

7:54 a.m. ET, January 13, 2021

Here's why Democrats want to impeach President Trump after last week's deadly Capitol attack

From CNN's Jeremy Herb, Manu Raju, Lauren Fox and Phil Mattingly

President Trump speaks to supporters at the Save America Rally in Washington D.C., on January 6. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Democrats formally introduced their impeachment resolution Monday, charging President Trump with "incitement of insurrection" as they race toward making him the first president in US history to be impeached twice.

Today's vote underscores Democrats' fury toward Trump and his supporters after months of false rhetoric about the election being stolen whipped the President's most ardent followers into a deadly mob last Wednesday that ransacked the Capitol, forced lawmakers to evacuate both the House and Senate – and could have been worse.

The single impeachment article points to Trump's repeated false claims that he won the election and his speech to the crowd on Jan. 6 before the rioters breached the Capitol. It also cited Trump's call with the Georgia Republican secretary of state where the President urged him to "find" enough votes for Trump to win the state.

"In all this, President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government," the resolution says. "He threatened the integrity of the democratic system, interfered with the peaceful transition of power, and imperiled a coequal branch of Government. He thereby betrayed his trust as President, to the manifest injury of the people of the United States."

The resolution, which was introduced by Democrats David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Ted Lieu of California, also cited the Constitution's 14th Amendment, noting that it "prohibits any person who has 'engaged in insurrection or rebellion against' the United States" from holding office.

You can read the full article of impeachment against Trump here.