Pelosi lays out next steps as momentum builds for impeachment
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday laid out the next steps in the bid to remove President Trump from office in the wake of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. The White House, meanwhile, said Mr. Trump is set to travel to the U.S.-Mexico border on Tuesday and will resume official duties amid the firestorm.
Pelosi said Congress on Monday will move on a motion brought by Congressman Jamie Raskin that calls on Vice President Mike Pence to convene the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office.
If Pence does not respond, Pelosi said the House will proceed with articles of impeachment, which have been drafted but have not yet been introduced.
In an interview with "60 Minutes," Pelosi said although there are "only a number of days until we can be protected from" Mr. Trump, "he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him."
Democrats have a thin majority in the House, so impeachment could succeed without any Republicans. On Sunday, two moderate Democrats, including one who is the co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, came out in favor of impeachment. In 2019, nearly all Democrats voted for impeachment, along with former independent Congressman Justin Amash. But for Mr. Trump to be removed from office, he would need to be convicted by 67 senators. Republicans will hold onto the majority in the Senate until Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are sworn in.
Once the Senate receives articles of impeachment, it is required to consider them before acting on any other business. If the Senate is required to hold impeachment hearings, they will monopolize the calendar at a time when hearings should be held for President-elect Joe Biden's crucial Cabinet picks.
There's already a confirmation hearing scheduled for Mr. Biden's pick to lead the Defense Department, retired General Lloyd Austin, on January 19, the day before inauguration. That would potentially be delayed. The Senate would also have to delay a vote on a waiver to allow him to serve as defense secretary, which he would need given his recent departure from the military.
Congressman Jim Clyburn on Sunday floated the possibility of impeaching Mr. Trump after he leaves office on January 20. Clyburn suggested they could impeach him after Mr. Biden's first 100 days in office.
Impeaching and convicting Mr. Trump after he leaves office would bar him from holding office in the future.
Officer who responded to Capitol assault dies
A Capitol police officer has died days after responding to Wednesday's assault on the building, the Capitol police confirmed Sunday to CBS News. Capitol police said Officer Howard Liebengood died off-duty.
Capitol police said in a statement that Liebengood, 51, served on the Senate side. He had been with the Capitol police department since April 2005. The police union chairman called it a "tragic day."
"We are reeling from the death of Officer Liebengood. Every Capitol Police Officer puts the security of others before their own safety and Officer Liebengood was an example of the selfless service that is the hallmark of USCP," Capitol police union chairman Gus Papathanasiou said in a statement.
Read more here.
NYPD sent 2 packages of intelligence warning extremists were threatening the Capitol
The NYPD sent two packages of intelligence warning extremists were threatening the Capitol with violence, assault and attack, law enforcement sources told CBS News.
The first package was sent to a number of police departments. The second package went specifically to the Capitol police.
The NYPD is reviewing tape and other information to see if any member attended the demonstration or participated in the assault.
Pelosi recounts to "60 Minutes" the assault on Capitol
Nancy Pelosi's House staffers hid under a table as rioters tried to break down a door to the office they were in, Pelosi told "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired Sunday night. Speaker Pelosi was on the House floor during the count of the electoral college vote in the afternoon of January 6 when rioters spurred on by President Trump began barreling past barricades, clashing with police and breaking into the Capitol in a day that shook the nation.
"When the protesters were making the assault on the Capitol, before they even got to these doors, the Capitol Police pulled me from the podium," Pelosi told "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl. "And I was concerned because I said, 'No, I want to be here.' And they said, 'Well, no, you have to leave.' I said, 'No, I'm not leaving.' They said, 'No, you must leave.'"
Read more here or watch in the player below.
Pelosi lays out Congress' next steps in bid to remove Trump
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday laid out the next steps in the bid to remove President Trump from office. In a letter to Democratic colleagues on Sunday night, Pelosi said Congress on Monday will move on a motion by Congressman Jamie Raskin which calls on Vice President Mike Pence to convene the Cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office.
If Pence does not respond, Pelosi said the House will proceed with articles of impeachment, which have been drafted but have not yet been introduced.
Co-chair of Democrats' "Blue Dog Coalition" backs impeachment
The co-chair of the Democrats' "Blue Dog Coalition," or a group of moderate Democrats, on Sunday said she supports impeaching President Trump. "Congress has a constitutional and moral obligation to provide a check and balance on the president; to hold him accountable for inciting violence and insurrection; and to preserve and protect the Constitution of the United States," said Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy of Florida in a statement.
Congressman Conor Lamb, a moderate Democrat who represents a swing district in Pennsylvania and who was one of only six Democrats not to back House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's bid for leadership, tweeted his support for impeachment as well.
Men allegedly in viral photos with tactical gear are arrested
The U.S. attorney's office announced Sunday that two more people were charged in connection with Wednesday's assault on the U.S. Capitol, both of whom are believed to be featured in viral photos.
Eric Gavelek Munchel of Tennessee was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He was arrested Sunday in Nashville.
The U.S. attorney's office said Munchel is allegedly the man featured in a viral photograph with zip ties, an item in a holster on his right hip, and a cell phone mounted on his chest with the camera facing outward, ostensibly to record events that day.
Larry Rendell Brock of Texas, who was profiled in a New Yorker piece published on Friday, was charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. He has been arrested in Texas.
Brock has allegedly been identified one of the one of the individuals who unlawfully entered the U.S. Capitol wearing a green helmet, green tactical vest with patches, black and camo jacket, and beige pants holding a white flex cuff, which is used by law enforcement to restrain and/or detain subjects, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Read more here.
Trump to travel to Texas border region on Tuesday
President Trump will travel to Alamo, Texas, on Tuesday, said White House spokesman Judd Deere. He will be marking the completion of 400 miles of border wall.
Earlier this week, Customs and Border Protection acting commission Mark Morgan said the Trump administration plans to award contracts for 350 miles of border wall by January 19, before Mr. Trump leaves office.
Morgan said on a call with reporters on January 5 that he hopes the Biden administration will honor those government contracts, but conceded there are ways out of obligations to build more barrier wall. "If [the Biden administration] wants to, but that's going to be a very lengthy messy process. We're going to have to go into settlement agreements with each individual contractor," Morgan said.
He later added "we're gonna have to pay them for materials and work already performed."
Although Mr. Trump is visiting the town of Alamo, that is not the same as the historic site of the Alamo, the fort where roughly 200 American soldiers died in 1836 in the last stand against Mexican troops. That Alamo is in San Antonio, roughly 240 miles away from the current border.
— Fin Gomez, Nicole Sganga and Caroline Linton
White House lowers flag to half-staff
The American flag atop the White House was lowered to half-staff Sunday afternoon, following days of criticism that the president has yet to honor Officer Brian Sicknick, the Capitol Police officer who died during the attack on the Capitol.
Flags at the Capitol have been lowered since Friday, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered them to fly at half-staff to honor Sicknick.
Schumer warns of more attacks by "violent extremist groups" ahead of inauguration
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke with FBI Director Chris Wray on Saturday and pushed him to "relentlessly pursue" those in the pro-Trump mob that mounted the assault on the U.S. Capitol and "guard against potential additional attacks," he said.
"The threat of violent extremist groups remains high and the next few weeks are critical in our democratic process with the upcoming inauguration at the U.S. Capitol to swear in President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris," Schumer said in a statement following his call with Wray.
The New York Democrat said "incendiary, dangerous rhetoric" that proliferated online before the January 6 attack has escalated in the days since the violent mob charged the Capitol.
"I impressed upon Director Wray the vitalness of the FBI to work with other federal and state agencies to remain highly proactive and extremely vigilant to defend our democracy," Schumer said.
D.C. mayor asks feds to boost security for inauguration
In anticipation of further unrest in the run-up to Mr. Biden's inauguration on January 20, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said Sunday that she is asking the federal government for additional security preparations to ensure the safety of the event and the district.
In an interview with "Face the Nation," Bowser said this year's inauguration has to be different than any other in the nation's history.
"I'm requesting from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that they take additional steps, including expanding the length of the time that this national special security event is in place," Bowser said. "Further, I am asking that they extend the perimeter of their coverage area for this national security special event, which is the inauguration, to include the Capitol."
Bowser said she will also be sending Mr. Trump a letter asking for a pre-disaster emergency declaration for the District of Columbia ahead of the inauguration, which will allow for additional federal coordination.
Pelosi on what happens if Trump pardons himself
Watch Pelosi's interview with Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" on Sunday night.
Krebs says Trump "has to resign" in wake of Capitol attack
Chris Krebs, the former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) who was fired by Mr. Trump, said the president has to step down following the assault on the Capitol last week. Krebs was terminated by Mr. Trump after agencies issued a statement calling the election the most secure in U.S. history and bucking unfounded theories votes were changed or deleted.
"I don't know if the president is capable of doing it, but he has to resign. He has to tell his supporters that he lied to them, that this was all his own fraud. He has to come out," Krebs said in an interview on "Face the Nation." "We have to set an example for the rest of the free world that attempted coups, which is what this was, will not be tolerated. And there has to be accountability. So whether it's the 25th Amendment push, whether it's an impeachment, the president needs to be held accountable for supporting and really inciting the activity of this past week."
Krebs also called for Republicans in Congress who have claimed there were widespread election irregularities to denounce the claims and "come back to the middle."
"At this point, particularly after Wednesday, the president's legacy is a heap of ashes," he said. "There's nothing redeemable at this point, given the fact that he incited this attempt to overturn democracy, a fair and free election. There is an opportunity, though, for a redemption story."
The violence at the Capitol led to widespread questions and outrage over a lack of preparedness by the U.S. Capitol Police in responding to the pro-Trump mob.
Krebs said that while he was working at CISA, the agency "anticipated physical violence as the ultimate manifestation of the president and the campaigns' and his attorneys' and his supporters' claims that the election was rigged or stolen."
"Those claims continue," he said. "The latest dog whistle is election irregularities. So, those that are promoting this narrative, these conspiracies have to stop. They have to denounce these claims."
Coons says Trump "has lost the right to be president" after Capitol attack
Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said Mr. Trump's conduct in the weeks since the November 3 general election have made him unfit to remain president through the end of his term.
"President Trump by his actions over the last two months since the election has lost the right to be president," Coons said in an interview on "Face the Nation. "And by the actions this past Wednesday and his failure to take any responsibility or show any remorse for it of significance, I think he doesn't deserve to be president anymore."
Coons said it is now incumbent upon Congress to pressure Mr. Trump to resign and to push Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and, with support from the majority of the Cabinet, remove him from office. He also called for Republicans to acknowledge to their supporters that the election was not, in fact stolen, and Mr. Biden is the rightful president.
"Many of my Republican colleagues are now calling for healing and for us to come together. I'll tell you, there can only be reconciliation with repentance," he said. "I think the single most important thing that Republicans in Congress who helped facilitate this widespread conspiracy theory, that somehow the election was stolen, and the most important thing that President Trump can do in these remaining 10 days is to stop those lies and to persuade their followers and supporters that President-elect Biden is the duly elected president of the United States."
While Coons said Mr. Trump should be held accountable for his actions inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol, the senator said that will be up to the Justice Department of the New York attorney general.
House physician says lawmakers may have been exposed to coronavirus after evacuating
The attending physician for the House of Representatives is warning lawmakers that they may have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus while sequestered in a secure location during the Capitol assault.
Dozens of House members were held in a committee hearing space after rioters breached the Capitol building and lawmakers were forced to evacuate. Many Republican members refused to wear masks while in close proximity to others for hours.
"During this time, individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection," Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician, wrote in an advisory to lawmakers and staff obtained by CBS News.
Monahan urged members and staff to "please continue your usual daily coronavirus risk reduction measures," including "daily symptom inventory checklist, mask wear, and social distancing." He also said anyone who was in the room should be tested for the virus this week as a precaution.
Blunt says there's "no possibility" of removing Trump from office
Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri threw cold water on efforts to impeach Mr. Trump and remove him from office before the inauguration January 20, and said the focus should be on the start of Mr. Biden's presidency.
"If there is no additional ensuing event, my belief is there is no possibility of that," Blunt told "Face the Nation" when pressed on efforts to impeach Mr. Trump in his last 10 days in office.
The Missouri senator said the "impeachment of the president to remove him from office is not going to happen between now and the last day he's in office."
A bevy of congressional Democrats have called for Mr. Trump to be impeached or removed from office under the 25th Amendment. Articles of impeachment are set to be introduced in the House this week.
So far, one House Republican, Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, has come out in support of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office, and just two GOP senators have called for him to resign.
Impeaching Mr. Trump, Blunt said, "is more of a long-term punishment of the president than trying to remove him from office. That's when the politics take over and the protecting the government is left behind."
The senator called for Mr. Trump to tread carefully over his last 10 days in office.
"The president should be very careful over the next 10 days that his behavior is what you would expect from the leader of the greatest country in the world," he said. "The president touched the hot stove on Wednesday and is unlikely to touch it again."
Arnold Schwarzenegger calls assault America's "Day of Broken Glass"
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered a sobering message to the American people in which he said last week's assault on the U.S. Capitol was America's Kristallnacht, evoking the "Night of Broken Glass" in Nazi Germany in 1938.
"The broken glass was in the windows of the United States Capitol," Schwarzenegger said in a nearly eight-minute long video posted to Twitter. "But the mob did not just shatter the windows of the Capitol, they shattered the ideas we took for granted. They did not just break down the doors of the building that housed American democracy. They trampled the very principles on which our country was founded."
My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week's attack on the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/blOy35LWJ5
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 10, 2021
Schwarzenegger, who was born in Austria in 1947, for the first time shared memories of his father after World War II returning home inebriated, and beating him and his siblings in guilt of his actions during the war.
"They were in physical pain from the shrapnel in their bodies and in emotional pain from what they saw or did. It all started with lies, and lies, and lies, and intolerance," he said. "So being from Europe, I've seen firsthand how things can spin out of control."
Schwarzenegger said Republicans who have enabled Mr. Trump during his four years in office were complicit "with those who carried the flag of self-righteous insurrection into the Capitol."
"President Trump sought to overturn the results of an election and of a fair election. He sought a coup by misleading people with lies," he said. "My father and our neighbors were also misled also with lies, and I know where such lies lead. President Trump is a failed leader."
The former governor and actor said Mr. Trump will be remembered as the worst president in the U.S. history and will soon "be as irrelevant as an old tweet." Looking ahead, he urged Americans to unite so the nation can heal.
"Our democracy has been tempered by wars, injustices and insurrections. I believe, as shaken as we are about the events of the recent days, we will come out stronger because we now understand what can be lost," he said.
Schwarzenegger closed with a message to those who mounted the insurrection at the Capitol:
"To those who think they can overturn the United States Constitution, know this: You will never win."
Toomey calls for Trump to resign
Toomey became the second Republican to call on Mr. Trump to resign for his handling of the violent mob of his supporters that descended on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
"I think at this point with just a few days left, it's the best path forward, the best way to get this person in the rearview mirror for us," Toomey told CNN's "State of the Union," though he added he's not "optimistic" that will happen.
Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has also said Mr. Trump should step down, while scores of congressional Democrats are pushing for him to be removed from office, either through impeachment or under the 25th Amendment.
Toomey said the president could face "possible criminal liability" for his actions Wednesday. Mr. Trump continually claimed the election was stolen from him, and before his supporters began their assault, the president encouraged them to march to the Capitol and "stop the steal."
"I don't think there is any doubt that the president's behavior after the election was different than before," he said.
Pelosi tells House Democrats to be prepared to return to D.C. this week
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to House Democrats telling them to "be prepared to return to Washington this week."
Since the Capitol Hill riot, Pelosi says she has discussed her colleagues' concerns with "Constitutional lawyers, both inside and outside the Congress, to consider the parliamentary and constitutional options available to us."
"We will be proceeding with meetings with Members and Constitutional experts and others," Pelosi wrote. "I continue to welcome your comments. I urge you to be prepared to return to Washington this week."
Following the the deadly assault on the Capitol from supporters of President Trump, Pelosi and other lawmakers have called for either Mr. Trump to resign or Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment and remove the president from office. Pelosi has stated that if neither happens, she is prepared to seek legislation invoking the 25th amendment and bring about impeachment charges.