Pence says he won’t invoke 25th amendment in letter to Pelosi – as it happened | US news

From me and Joan E Greve:

• The House will soon vote on a resolution calling on Mike Pence to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Donald Trump from office. The vote comes one day before the House is scheduled to debate the article of impeachment against Trump, which charges the president with incitement of insurrection in connection to the riot at the Capitol last week.
• Pence, in a letter to House speaker Nancy Pelosi, said he will not invoke the 25th amendment. This means Congress is all but guaranteed to begin impeachment proceedings tomorrow.
• Four Republican representatives, including third-ranking GOP member Liz Cheney, have said they’ll vote to impeach Trump. “The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Cheney said.
• Pelosi named impeachment managers. Representative Jamie Raskin will be taking lead, working with Diana DeGette, David Cicilline, Joaquin Castro, Eric Swalwell, Ted Lieu, Stacey Plaskett, Joe Neguse and Madeleine Dean.
• Representatives for the FBI and the justice department said more than 160 case files have been opened in connection to the violence at the Capitol. Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney in DC, said that alleged rioters face a “mind-blowing” range of crimes, including felony murder and sedition and conspiracy.
• Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has told colleagues that he believes Trump committed impeachable offenses, according to the New York Times. McConnell has also said he is glad the House is moving forward with impeachment because he thinks it will make it easier to push Trump out of the Republican party.
• Trump rejected responsibility for the violence at the Capitol that he incited. Speaking to reporters before leaving for Texas today, Trump said of his speech to supporters shortly before the riot, “People thought that what I said was totally appropriate.” In reality, members of both parties have criticized Trump for explicitly telling his supporters to march to the Capitol as lawmakers certified Joe Biden’s victory.
• Sheldon Adelson, the prominent Republican donor and Trump backer, has died. Adelson, a casino magnate and an early supporter of the president, was 87.
• The supreme court ruled to reinstate a Food and Drug Administration rule restricting access to an abortion pill. This is the first abortion case to be decided with anti-abortion Trump-appointee Amy Coney Barrett on the court. The decision reinstates an FDA rule that Mifeprex, a drug used for abortion early in pregnancy, must be administered by medical professionals at clinics or hospitals. Doctors fought to relax the rules amid the pandemic when people are less able to access medical care in person.

Representative Fred Upton of Michigan has joined three other House Republicans in saying he’ll vote to impeach Donald Trump.

Liz Cheney, the third-highest ranking GOP representative has also said she’ll vote to impeach. But her colleagues, Freedom Caucus chair Andy Biggs representative Matt Rosendale are calling on Cheney to step down from party leadership. Rosendale, a freshman congressman of Montana said Cheney is“weakening our conference at a key moment for personal political gain and is unfit to lead.”

The House has approved fines for members who don’t comply with a mask-wearing mandate, voting along party lines.

There will be a $500 fine for a first offense and $2,500 for a second offense. The fines are part of the rules of the resolution calling on Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Three members have tested positive for Covid-19 after the riot last week. While representatives were on lockdown amid the attack on the US Capitol, several Republicans refused to wear masks.

This is the first abortion case to be decided with anti-abortion Trump-appointee Amy Coney Barrett on the court.

The ruling today reinstates a Food and Drug Administration rule that Mifeprex, a drug used for abortion early in pregnancy, must be administered by medical professionals at clinics or hospitals.

Doctors led by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists fought to relax the rule during the pandemic when access to clinics and hospitals became restricted, winning a case in a US district court.

Today’s Supreme Court ruling reinstates the FDA rule. The three liberals on the court dissented. “Because the FDA’s policy imposes an unnecessary, unjustifiable, irrational, and undue burden on women seeking an abortion during the current pandemic, and because the Government has not demonstrated irreparable harm from the injunction, I dissent,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Representative Jamie Raskin will be taking lead, working with Diana DeGette, David Cicilline, Joaquin Castro, Eric Swalwell, Ted Lieu, Stacey Plaskett, Joe Neguse and Madeleine Dean.

“Tonight, I have the solemn privilege of naming the managers of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump,” said Pelosi in a statement. “It is their constitutional and patriotic duty to present the case for the president’s impeachment and removal. They will do so guided by their great love of country, determination to protect our democracy and loyalty to our oath to the constitution. Our managers will honor their duty to defend democracy for the people with great solemnity, prayerfulness and urgency.”

Debbie Lesko, a Republican congresswoman of Arizona has complained about the metal detectors that representatives have to go through to enter the floor, describing them as an additional measure “on top of the security we already go through”.

But lawmakers do not have to go through additional metal detectors to access the Capitol.

“We now live in Pelosi’s communist America!” Lesko complained.

Several Republicans have taken exception to the new metal detectors and safety measures implemented following the deadly attack on the US Capitol last week.

Representative Lauren Boebert refused to comply with a bag check, and Markwayne Mullin and Steve Womack have also reportedly yelled at Capitol police officers enforcing the new protocols.

CNN’s Manu Raju reports:

In the letter to Nancy Pelosi, Pence said he is not willing to declare Trump unfit for office. “I do not believe that such a course of action is in the best interest of our Nation or consistent with our Constitution,” he writes.

Invoking the 25th would “set a terrible precedent” he said.

Members of Congress are still doing a procedural vote on the resolution asking Pence to invoke the 25th.

Even as the House works on passing a resolution compelling Pence to do so, the vice president has said he won’t invoke the 25th Amendment or consider removing Trump from office.

Pence has sent a letter to House speaker Nancy Pelosi…

Lauren Boebert, a Republican representative of Colorado who subscribes to the QAnon conspiracy, has reportedly held up the line after setting of newly installed metal detectors at Congress.

Boebert, who has expressed enthusiasm about carrying weapons to Capitol Hill, is reportedly refusing to comply with a bag search.

Representatives are currently partaking in a procedural vote on the resolution calling on Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.