President-elect Joe Biden has said Donald Trump isn’t “fit for the job” of president, but he has repeatedly refused to endorse growing Democratic calls to impeach him a second time.
It comes following moves to impeach Donald Trump for a second time, amid fears of the president's behaviour and comments, with some saw as a catalyst for the violent scenes in the Capitol.
READ MORE: Donald Trump facing second impeachment bid after Capitol riot
House speaker Nancy Polosi also confirmed that she has spoken to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff "to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes"
While there is support for the move amongst the Democrats, it is understood that some within the Republican Party would also back calls to impeach the 45th President.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told the Anchorage Daily News that Mr Trump "needs to get out".
Has Donald Trump been impeached?
Mr Trump would be the only president to be impeached twice. The house of representatives impeached him in late 2019, but the Republican-led senate acquitted him.
Democrats in the US house of representatives impeached the president on two charges: abuse of power by withholding US military aid to Ukraine as he pressed that country to investigate Mr Trump’s Democratic rival Joe Biden, and obstruction of congress by refusing to comply with their investigation.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that the House would "preserve every option," including legislation to establish a commission under the 25th Amendment that could recommend Trump's removal.
House Democrats plan to introduce their impeachment resolution on Monday, when the House next comes into session.
What is impeachment?
Impeachment is the process which allows Congress to put presidents on trial, however, it is a political process rather than a criminal trial.
Articles of impeachment are charges brought against a president by the House of Representatives. If the House votes to pass them, proceedings move to the Senate, which decides whether or not to convict.
Mr Trump was the third US president to have been impeached, with Richard Nixon famously resigning before he could be impeached.
The two others, Bill Clinton in 1999 and Andrew Johnson in 1868, were left in office by the Senate.
Has Joe Biden called for Donald Trump impeachment?
After introducing some of his cabinet choices, Biden noted that a key reason he ran for president was because he had “thought for a long, long time that President Trump wasn’t fit for the job”.
Biden added: “I’ve been saying for now, well, over a year, he’s not fit to serve. He’s one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America.”
But the President-elect refused to back efforts to remove Trump from the White House and insisted that impeachment was up to the US congress.
The president-elect also suggested that a key hurdle to removing Mr Trump was that he has less than two weeks remaining in his term.
“If we were six months out, we should be doing everything to get him out of office. Impeaching him again, trying to evoke the 25th Amendment, whatever it took,” Mr Biden said.
“But I am focused now on us taking control as president and vice president on the 20th and to get our agenda moving as quickly as we can.”
What does the draft impeachment resolution of Donald Trump say?
According to CBS news, the draft resolution reads: "Donald John Trump engaged in high Crimes and Misdemeanours by willfully inciting violence against the Government of the United States."
In the resolution, the lawmakers accuse the president of making statements that encouraged and resulted in "imminent lawless action at the Capitol".
What has the Trump campaign said about potential impeachment?
Donald Trump's spokesman Judd Deere said: "A politically motivated impeachment against a president with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country."
If impeached could Donald Trump run for office in 2024?
Removal from office could also prevent Mr Trump from running for president in 2024, or ever holding the presidency again.
How can Donald Trump be impeached?
Two-thirds of senators would be required to convict and remove a president from office.
So, 67 members of the Senate would have to vote to convict, if every senator is voting.
NEWS —> McConnell sends memo to GOP senators outlining how an impeachment trial would work if the House goes thru. In essence, McConnell explains how an impeachment trial would consume the first days of Biden’s presidency. Memo exclusively obtained by WaPo https://t.co/q2f2Quum1Z pic.twitter.com/SAkVVsqPvb
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) January 9, 2021
Is the impeachment vote televised?
We aren't quite at the voting stage yet, however, in general according to senate rules, a majority of senators present can vote to close the proceedings and debate in private. That would mean the TV cameras will be shut off and everyone who is not a member of the senate will be kicked out of the chamber until the senators choose to reopen it.
This happened at times during Clinton trial.
What is the 25th Amendment?
There is speculation that some are considering invoking the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution to remove Donald Trump from office.
READ MORE: What is the 25th Amendment and how could it remove Donald Trump from office?
NBC News reported that democrats were drafting a letter to Mr Pence demanding he invoke the 25th.
The 25th Amendment in the US Constitution can be invoked if a president, for any reason, is unable to carry out their duties of office.
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