Pelosi pushes for Trump's resignation; Twitter suspends Trump

Hours after the ban was announced, President Trump appeared to tweet from the official @POTUS account. "As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me - and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me," read a post from the account. 

The post said Trump was negotiating with other sites, and would have "a big announcement soon." The post also said the president is looking at "the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future." 

Within minutes, the tweets were deleted. 

Twitter told CBS News that the @POTUS and @WhiteHouse accounts will not be suspended at this time but their use will be limited.

However, the social media company is not completely ruling out suspending the government accounts and says it would suspend them if it became necessary in an extreme situation to alleviate real world harm.

Twitter says the government accounts will be transferred over to the new administration in due time.

Additionally, Twitter said if it becomes clear that Mr. Trump has created another personal account to evade the ban, that new account will also be subject to suspension.

Twitter will not clarify at this time what action is being taken to limit the use of @POTUS and @WhiteHouse.

 — Victoria Albert and Musadiq Bidar 

Seema Verma, Trump's administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and a close ally of Vice President Mike Pence, is "repulsed" by President Trump's treatment of the vice president, a source told CBS News. 

Verma, who is also on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, held an all staff Zoom call on Friday. She said she is "deeply heartbroken" by Wednesday's assault on the U.S. Capitol, but she will not be stepping down, according to sources on the call. 

"I have no doubt that like me, you were sickened by the despicable acts of violence and vandalism that engulfed our Capitol," Verma said." The forceful occupation of the seat of our democratic republic is a foul and distorted imitation of the sacred constitutional right to peacefully protest."

Verma said on the call that she has "always known" Pence to be a "good man...a man of duty and honor...a man of patriotism and integrity." 

"I am proud to call him a friend and a mentor. Mike Pence took an oath to support and defend the Constitution and so did I. He upheld his oath and so will I," she added.

A West Virginia state lawmaker who filmed himself storming into the U.S. Capitol along with a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump is now facing federal charges, the U.S. District Attorney's office for the District of Columbia said Friday.

West Virginia State Delegate Derrick Evans is charged with entering a restricted area, Ken Kohl, principal assistant U.S. Attorney for D.C., said on a press call. 

Evans is among 15 people who have been charged at the federal level so far, including an Arkansas man who was photographed with his feet up on a desk in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and another man found with 11 Molotov cocktails along with an assault rifle and two handguns in his Alabama-registered truck. The U.S. Attorney's office has charged 40 others in D.C. Superior Court, officials say.

Evans, a newly elected Republican lawmaker, is facing bipartisan calls for his resignation. But Evans' lawyer told CBS affiliate WVNS-TV that he would not step down and he "committed no criminal act that day."

Read more here. 

President Trump will not resign. Nor will he turn power over to Vice President Pence and ask him for a pardon, according to top White House advisers who have spoken with the highest ranking members of Mr. Trump's Cabinet, including Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, Pence and chief of staff Mark Meadows.

The president continues to ask senior advisers about his ability to pardon himself before he leaves office. It's a power that is untested and by no means settled. A Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memo from 1976 says that the president cannot pardon himself or herself, so it would be a gamble. The president worries about his legal exposure post-presidency, but not necessarily related to the assault on the Capitol.

GOP sources close to the White House and congressional leadership say the threat of a second impeachment is real and could find some support among House Republicans, who are facing pressure from lobbying firms and corporations that help fund their campaigns. They have made it clear they will cut ties with Republicans who back Mr. Trump in any impeachment vote. 

Read more here.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said nothing is off the table when it comes to how President Trump will be dealt with following Wednesday's riot at the Capitol. Just two days removed from having her own office ransacked by the rioters, who were spurred on by the president, Pelosi spoke with 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl.

"Sadly, the person that's running the Executive Branch is a deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States," Pelosi told Stahl in an excerpt of their interview that aired Friday on the "CBS Evening News." "And we're only a number of days until we can be protected from him. But he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him."

Pelosi's full interview will air Sunday night. Watch a preview here or in the player below.

Twitter is permanently banning President Trump from the platform, the company announced late Friday. The ban comes days after Twitter temporarily locked Mr. Trump's account.

"After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," the company said in a statement.

Read more here.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that it is the "sincere hope" of Democratic representatives that President Trump will "immediately resign." If he does not, she said she is prepared to bring a vote on Congressman Jamie Raskin's motion to invoke the 25th Amendment legislation and a motion for impeachment.

"Accordingly, the House will preserve every option – including the 25th Amendment, a motion to impeach or a privileged resolution for impeachment," Pelosi said in a statement. 

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is now saying President Trump should resign in the wake of the assault of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. 

"I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage," the Alaska Republican told the Anchorage Daily News.

Although other Republican senators have been critical of the president's comments encouraging the protesters and initial failure to condemn the violence, Murkowski is the first to call for the president to resign. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger on Thursday became the first Republican lawmaker in Washington to call for Mr. Trump to be removed through the 25th Amendment. 

"I think he should leave," Murkowski also told the Anchorage Daily News. "He said he's not going to show up. He's not going to appear at the inauguration. He hasn't been focused on what is going on with COVID. He's either been golfing or he's been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice president. He doesn't want to stay there. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out. He needs to do the good thing, but I don't think he's capable of doing a good thing."

Murkowski also didn't commit to staying in the Republican party, telling the newspaper her future with the party depends on whether the party stays with Mr. Trump.

"Well, you know, there's a lot of people who actually thought that I did that in 2010, think that I became an independent. I didn't have any reason to leave my party in 2010. I was a Republican who ran a write-in campaign and I was successful. But I will tell you, if the Republican party has become nothing more than the party of Trump, I sincerely question whether this is the party for me," she told the Anchorage Daily News. 

A trio of House Democrats plan to introduce articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Monday for incitement of insurrection following Wednesday's riots at the U.S. Capitol, multiple sources familiar with the efforts tell CBS News.

This development comes two days after a mob of Trump supporters overran the Capitol on Wednesday in riots that resulted in the deaths of five people, including a Capitol policeman who was trying to help regain control.

The bill has nearly 160 cosponsors, a sign of the broad support among House Democrats to take action in the wake of the violence at the Capitol. It was authored by Representatives Ted Lieu of and David Cicilline of Rhode Island, who began drafting it while sheltering in place Wednesday in the Capitol complex. They also worked with a third author, Representative Jamie Raskin.

The caucus spoke on a conference call Friday for more than three hours to discuss the prospect of removing the president from office. Democrats were overwhelmingly supportive of the effort, with just one, Oregon Representative Kurt Schrader, arguing that such a move would be too divisive for the country.

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin said Friday that impeachment is conceivable but "unlikely," with 12 days to go until President-elect Joe Biden takes office. 

The Democratic senator made the comments during a Zoom news conference. Durbin also floated the possibility of impeachment to prevent Mr. Trump from running again in 2024. 

"I would not rule that out," Durbin said. 

There is a growing desire for impeachment among Democratic members of the House, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a conference call with the Democratic caucus on Friday. 

President-elect Joe Biden slammed Senator Ted Cruz and others who had questioned the integrity of the election results, saying they were part of the "big lie" of deceiving Americans. 

CBS News' Nikole Killion asked if Mr. Biden thought Cruz and Senator Josh Hawley, who also led an objection to the Electoral College results, should resign. Mr. Biden said he thinks they should be "flat beaten the next time they run for office." 

"I think the public has a good clear look at who they are," Mr. Biden said. 

Mr. Biden said he is reminded of how Joseph Goebbels' Nazi Propaganda Ministry had wildly inflated the number of people who died in the Dresden fire bombing. 

"Our papers printed it," Mr. Biden said. "It's the big lie."

Mr. Biden said he had spoken to some prominent Republican senators who were "ashamed" of Cruz and others. 

"It's interesting to me and I was pleased to hear some of the more prominent republicans say to me that Ted Cruzes of the world are as responsible as people believing the lies as, not as responsible, but similarly responsible as Trump," Mr. Biden said. 

The president-elect said Friday that he gave "serious consideration" to nominating Bernie Sanders for Labor Secretary, but they both decided against it after Georgia's runoff election gave Democrats a narrow majority in the Senate. 

"I did give serious consideration on nominating my friend Bernie Sanders to this position. I'm confident he could have done a fantastic job. I can think of no more passionate, devoted ally to working people in this country," Biden said Friday at an event introducing additional key nominees for their economic and jobs team. "But after Tuesday's results in Georgia, giving Democratic control to the United States Senate and a tie vote, Bernie and I agreed — and as a matter of fact Bernie said — we can't put control of the Senate at risk on the outcome of a special election in Vermont."

If Sanders had been nominated to Labor Secretary, his Senate seat would have been up for grabs.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was ultimately nominated for the role. In accepting his nomination Friday, Walsh said working class Americanns have seen an "erosion of their rights," and promised to "put power back" in their hands.

"This is one of the most important departments to me, I trust Mayor Walsh and I'm honored he accepted," Biden said. The president-elect said he and Sanders will continue to "work together, travel the country together… meeting with working men and women who feel forgotten and left behind in this economy." 

The Arkansas man shown sitting at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk inside the U.S. Capitol this week has been taken into custody, federal authorities said Friday. 

Richard Barnett, of Gravette, Arkansas, is currently being charged with at least three counts: knowingly entering and remaining in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, and theft of public property, according to Ken Kohl, the principal assistant U.S. Attorney in D.C.

Photos circulated widely showing Barnett inside Pelosi's office with his feet resting on her desk. Barnett was taken into custody this morning in Little Rock.

The FBI is continuing its investigation to use tips and public photos to locate rioters. West Virginia State Delegate Derrick Evans was also taken into custody after he posted a now-deleted video showing him in the capital.

Barnett and Evans are part of 15 others facing federal charges for crimes committed during the riot.

 Senator Patty Murry, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, called on Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz to resign on Friday. Hawley and Cruz were the two leaders of efforts to object to Electoral College results in the Senate.

"There can be no normalizing or looking away from what played out before our eyes this week. The violent mob that attacked the Capitol was made up of people who don't accept democracy, and want to take this country by use of force," Murray said in a statement. "Any Senator who stands up and supports the power of force over the power of democracy has broken their oath of office. Senators Hawley and Cruz should resign."

Hawley was the first senator to say he would object to the results in certain states, while Cruz led a group of Republicans who said they would object unless an electoral commission was created. Both senators voted to object to the Electoral College results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Murray is not the only Democrat to call on Hawley and Cruz to step down. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware on Thursday said he believed the two "should resign," and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that Congress should expel Hawley and Cruz if they refuse to resign. Freshman Congresswoman Cori Bush has also drafted a resolution to investigate and potentially expel Republican members who objected to the election results.

Hawley has also been criticized by Republicans, including former GOP Senator John Danforth, who told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that supporting Hawley's 2018 Senate campaign "was the worst mistake I ever made in my life."

Hawley and Cruz are both considered to be potential presidential contenders in 2024, although it is unclear how Wednesday's events will affect their political ambitions.

At least one House Democrat is opposed to a possible second impeachment of President Trump in response to the assault on the United States Capitol on Wednesday.

Congressman Kurt Schrader, a moderate from Washington state who has been known to break frequently with members of his party on key votes, spoke out against impeachment on the midday call that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held with her Democratic Caucus.

"He was very passionate. Completely against it," said a person on the call who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about the exchange. Schrader raised his voice as he objected to proceeding with impeachment.

Schrader was the only member to speak up against possibly impeaching the president again, something that other senior House Democrats say could happen by next week.

Schrader also said that impeaching Mr. Trump again would be like a "lynching" and a "rush to judgment," according to the person familiar with the call.

 A growing number of lawmakers are issuing calls for President Trump's removal from office. Democratic Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton of Virginia joined CBSN to discuss why she is among them.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy issued a statement Friday saying impeaching the president days before he leaves office would only divide the nation further. He also said he's reached out to President-Elect Biden. 

His statement comes as talk of impeachment grows among Democrats.

"Impeaching the president with just 12 days left in his term will only divide our country more," McCarthy said. "I have reached out to President-elect Biden today and plan to speak to him about how we must work together to lower the temperature and unite the country to solve America's challenges."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not expressed how he feels about invoking the 25th Amendment or impeaching and removing the president. 

"Let me be very clear: the violence, destruction, and chaos that unfolded at the Capitol on Wednesday was unacceptable, undemocratic, and un-American," McCarthy said in his statement. "When I spoke to President Trump on Wednesday, I told him he had a great responsibility to intervene to quell the mob and start the healing process for our country. Over the coming weeks we will work with law enforcement to bring anyone responsible for the violence to justice. Lawlessness and extremism have no place in our way of life."

"Our country is not just divided. We are deeply hurt. The task ahead for the next Congress and incoming Biden Administration couldn't be more momentous. But to deliver a better America for all, partisans of all stripes first must unite as Americans and show our country that a peaceful transition of power has occurred."

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is working with the U.S. attorney's office to consider "all available charges, including potential incitement offenses to hold these individuals accountable for perpetrating violence on the U.S. Capitol," according to a spokesperson for Racine. 

Some supporters of the president encouraged the protesters to take action, although it's unclear whether any words spoken would arise to a civil or criminal offense. 

At this early stage, there are no charges under consideration or pending — the D.C. Office of Attorney General is reviewing what laws might apply to comments made ahead of Wednesday's deadly riots. 

The D.C. attorney general is also helping law enforcement identify and bring to justice rioters who broke into the Capitol.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she spoke Friday morning to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley about precautions that could be taken to prevent  "an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a 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," Pelosi said. 

House Democrats are holding a caucus call at noon to talk about plans to impeach the president, as pressure mounts to remove Mr. Trump from office before he last day in office, which is less than two weeks away.

When Mr. Trump ousted top Pentagon officials after the election, Milley, a Trump appointee, said, "We don't take an oath to an individual — we take oath to the Constitution." 

President Trump said he will not attend President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration in two weeks, an unsurprising development.

"To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the inauguration on January 20th," Mr. Trump tweeted. 

It was only on Thursday, after a deadly assault on the Capitol, that he acknowledged that he would be leaving office.

Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence "have yet to make a decision" about attending the inauguration, according to the vice president's press secretary, Devin O'Malley. 

Sara Cook contributed reporting.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ordered flags at the U.S. Capitol to be lowered to half-staff for Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of injuries sustained during the assault on the Capitol Wednesday. 

She condemned the violence and called it "a profound tragedy and stain on our nation's history."

"The sacrifice of Officer Sicknick reminds us of our obligation to those we serve: to protect our country from all threats foreign and domestic," she said in a statement. 

Capitol Police said Sicknick "was injured while physically engaging with protesters…He returned to his division office and collapsed." He was hospitalized and died Thursday night. His death is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department's Homicide Branch, Capitol Police, and federal partners. 

Republican Senator Ben Sasse said Friday he would "definitely consider" any impeachment articles brought by the House against President Trump.

"The House, if they come together and have a process, I will definitely consider whatever articles they might move," Sasse said in an interview with "CBS This Morning" on Friday.

Sasse has been a frequent critic of the president, but many congressional Republicans seem more willing to consider removing the president after Wednesday's invasion of the Capitol by pro-Trump rioters.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned Thursday night in the wake of the assault on the U.S. Capitol. She said in her resignation letter to President Trump that there is "no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me."

DeVos insisted in her letter that "history will show we were correct in our repeated urging of and support for schools reopening this year and getting all of America's students back to learning." But, she said, "impressionable children" were watching the riots at the Capitol and "we each have a moral obligation to exercise good judgement and model the behavior we hope they would emulate."

Her resignation came hours after Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, announced her resignation, effective Monday. Chao and DeVos are both members of Mr. Trump's Cabinet, and President-elect Joe Biden has already announced his choices to replace them.