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After weeks of pushing Mike Pence to overturn the election, Donald Trump did not mince his words in his final conversation with him before last week’s riots.
White House sources told the New York Times, Mr Trump had pressed Mr Pence relentlessly, alternately cajoling and browbeating him, to get his way.
In a final conversation, Mr Trump reportedly said: “You can either go down in history as a patriot, or you can go down in history as a pussy.”
The two are reportedly on better terms this week, and today Mr Pence officially rejected a plan to oust Mr Trump.
Democrats were calling on him to use the 25th Amendment to remove Mr Trump from power, but Mr Pence said he would not do it and told the Democrats to back down. He accused them of playing “political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation”.
In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr Pence said the 25th Amendment should not be used “as a means of punishment or usurpation” – rather it should be reserved for cases of medical or mental incapacitation.
“Now with just eight days left in the President’s term, you and Democratic Caucus are demanding that the Cabinet and I invoke the 25th Amendment. I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” Pence wrote.
He said he will not “yield to political pressure to exert pressure beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation.”
He also wrote that invoking the 25th Amendment “in such a manner would set a terrible precedent.”
He urged Ms Pelosi and all members of Congress to “lower the temperature and unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden.”
Meanwhile it’s expected roughly 20 Republicans in the House of Representatives expected to vote to impeach Donald Trump.
Three Senior Republicans in the House have already broken ranks this morning saying they will vote against the president tomorrow.
However, White House officials who spoke to both CNN and Fox News now expect as many as 20 or more Republicans to vote for impeachment.
One of CNN’s sources says 10 and 25 House GOP members will defect from President Trump. Fox reports there could be up to 20 defections.
Republican Conference chair Liz Cheney – the third-ranking GOP leader in the House – said she will vote to impeach Mr Trump saying there’s “never been a greater betrayal” by a president.
Last time Mr Trump was impeached, the vote had no support from Republicans.
Read on for the latest news.
Live Updates
Republican Representative Jamie Herrera Beutler, from Washington’s 3rd District, has become the fifth House Republican to back impeaching Donald Trump tomorrow.
“The President of the United States incited a riot aiming to halt the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next. These terrorists roamed the Capitol, hunting the Vice-President and the Speaker of the House,” she wrote in a letter shared to Twitter.
— Jaime Herrera Beutler (@HerreraBeutler) January 13, 2021
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She closes the letter by saying: “The President’s offenses, in my reading of the Constitution, were impeachable based on the indisputable evidence we already have.”
“I understand the argument that the best course is not to further inflame the country or alienate Republican voters. But I am a Republican voter. I believe in our Constitution, individual liberty, free marks, charity, life, justice, peace and this exceptional country. I see that my own party will be best served when those among us choose truth.
“I believe President Trump acted against his oath of office, so I will vote to impeach him.”
A source close to the President has told CNN that ahead of his impending (potential) impeachment, he is not considering resigning, adding “he won’t do that”.
“Resignation means admitting failure,” another senior White House adviser said. “So, no.”
They added that the current thinking is the Senate does not have enough time to convict Mr Trump, believing he’ll “make it to the end of his term without that kind of humiliation”.
“We will get through the 20th and move on,” the adviser said.
The House has voted and approved a resolution calling for Donald Trump to be removed from office through the 25th amendment in the wake of last week’s siege of the US Capitol.
The resolution called on Vice President Mike Pence “to immediately use his powers under section 4 of the 25th Amendment to convene and mobilise the principal officers of the executive departments in the Cabinet to declare what is obvious to a horrified nation: That the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties of his office”.
Mr Pence already said he wouldn’t do it – so this vote was a “symbolic rebuke to the President”, rather than one that would achieve any action.
However, the House will resume at 9am (local time) tomorrow to begin the impeachment vote.
YouTube has, somewhat belatedly, hopped on the bandwagon of social media platforms to ban access to Donald Trump.
“After review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our policies,” they wrote in a statement on Twitter.
“It now has its 1st strike & is temporarily prevented from uploading new content for a *minimum* of 7 days.
1/ After review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our policies. It now has its 1st strike & is temporarily prevented from uploading new content for a *minimum* of 7 days.
— YouTubeInsider (@YouTubeInsider) January 13, 2021
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“Given the ongoing concerns about violence, we will also be indefinitely disabling comments on President Trump’s channel, as we’ve done to other channels where there are safety concerns found in the comments section.”
The House is now voting on a resolution calling for Donald Trump to be removed from office through the 25th amendment in the wake of last week’s siege of the US Capitol.
House Democrats are also gearing up to vote to impeach the President tomorrow with the support of a growing handful of Republicans.
As we all know, despite Mr Trump’s recent behaviour, Vice President Mike Pence stated to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi he will not remove the outgoing President via the 25th amendment.
So while this vote won’t really achieve much (unlike tomorrow’s), Democrats have argued that it’s about the symbolism of it – to officially record the position of the House on the issue.

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham has backed up what we already (kind of) knew: Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is “done with Trump”.
Laura Ingraham says Fox News has confirmed McConnell will not stand in the way of impeachment and is “done with Trump” pic.twitter.com/N0YOEjONK9
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) January 13, 2021
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While we’re yet to hear from Mr McConnell himself, Ms Ingraham’s comments follow reports from the New York Times that he won’t stand in the way of the Democratic push to impeach the outgoing President.
HuffPost reporter Emma Gray has made a good point on Twitter about the word “pussy” “perfectly bookending the Trump presidency”.
As we noted earlier, after weeks of pushing Mike Pence to overturn the election, the outgoing President did not mince his words in his final conversation with him before last week’s riots.
White House sources told the New York Times, Mr Trump had pressed Mr Pence relentlessly, alternately cajoling and browbeating him, to get his way.
In a final conversation, Mr Trump reportedly said: “You can either go down in history as a patriot, or you can go down in history as a pussy.”
Just up thinking about how the word “pussy” is perfectly bookending the Trump presidency.
— Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) January 13, 2021
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It’s not the first time Mr Trump has swung the word around or (no doubt) horrified Mr Pence, an extremely religious conservative, with his use of it: cast your mind back October 2016, when Mr Trump was caught on tape boasting that as a celebrity, “you can do anything”.
“Grab them (women) by the pussy. You can do anything,” he bragged.
The day after the tape was released, Mr Pence condemned what he had heard from the future President.
And yet here we are.
We’ve heard of a number of House Republicans who will vote to impeach Donald Trump tomorrow – but the second-highest in GOP leadership, Steven Scalise, is not one of them.
Mr Scalise told CNN’s Manu Raju that moving to impeach the outgoing President is “divisive”, confirming he’d very much be standing by his man.
“I mean, we need to be focused on the country right now and ratcheting down the rhetoric,” he told Raju.
Asked if Trump bears any responsibility for inciting the riot, Scalise told me: “I’ve already spoken on that, my focus right now is the transition of power.” And he walked into the chamber
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 13, 2021
In their final conversation before Wednesday’s riots Donald Trump reportedly used some flowery language in an attempt to convince Mike Pence overturn the election.
White House sources told the New York Times, Mr Trump had pressed Mr Pence relentlessly, alternately cajoling and browbeating him, to get his way.
In a final conversation, Mr Trump reportedly said: “You can either go down in history as a patriot, or you can go down in history as a pussy.”
The two are reportedly on better terms this week, and this morning Mr Pence officially rejected a plan to oust Mr Trump.
Several US outlets are reporting that a fourth House Republican will vote to impeach Donald Trump tomorrow.
There are already more than enough House votes to impeach, meaning it will all depend on how many Senate votes there end up being to convict and remove the president.
I’m told that Michigan GOP Rep Fred Upton will vote to impeach the president.
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) January 13, 2021
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