U.S. President Donald Trump continues to deny responsibility for the actions of his supporters during an attack on the Capitol building last week.
The president faces new impeachment charges over his "incitement of insurrection." The U.S. House moved ahead late Tuesday to impeach Trump for the Capitol attack - taking time only to try to persuade his vice president to push him out first. Trump showed no remorse, blaming impeachment itself for the "tremendous anger" in America.
"His incendiary rhetoric at a rally ahead of the Capitol uprising is now in the impeachment charge against him - to be taken up Wednesday - even as the falsehoods he spread about election fraud are still being championed by some Republicans," The Associated Press said in reports early Wednesday.
Earlier, Trump argued all of the statements he made on social media and during interviews before the attack were "appropriate." A day before the attack, Trump encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol and "stop" Congress from certifying president-elect Joe Biden's election win.
The attack - widely considered to have been perpetrated by Trump supporters joining the "Stop the Steal" rally - resulted in the deaths of six people. Demonstrators barged into the building while Congress was certifying Biden as the winner of the U.S. presidential elections. The session was presided over by vice president Mike Pence.
"They've analyzed my speech and my words and my final paragraph, my final sentence and everybody...thought it was totally appropriate," Trump said.
Trump has privately blamed "Antifa people" for storming the U.S. Capitol this past Wednesday - even though video and documentary evidence shows the rioters were mostly his own supporters, Axios reported.
The House late Tuesday approved a resolution urging vice president Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Trump with a Cabinet vote, although Pence had already said he would not do so. The resolution, passed 223-205 almost entirely along party lines urged him to "declare what is obvious to a horrified Nation: That the president is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office."
In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Pence said it would not be in the best interest of the nation and it was "time to unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate president-elect Joe Biden."
Meanwhile, YouTube suspended Trump's channel for at least one week, and potentially longer, after it earned a strike under its terms of agreement, the company said late Tuesday.
A recent video on Trump's channel had incited violence, YouTube told CNN Business. That video has now been removed.
YouTube declined to share details of the video that earned Trump the strike but said that after the one-week timeout, it will revisit the decision. YouTube also removed content from the White House's channel for violating policy, the company told CNN Business.
Politicians at the U.S. House of Representatives are moving to have Trump impeached this week.
Trump's remarks late Tuesday were his first since the Capitol attacks. He did release a video late last week to condemn the violence but he still refused to concede defeat.
Critics say Trump's continued denial of responsibility underscores the urgency of removing him from the White House. Democratic lawmakers said Trump's "lack of contrition" should be motivation enough to invoke the 25th amendment to remove him from office.
Trump had warned democratic politicians that moving forward with his impeachment would present a "tremendous danger" to the county. Former presidential candidate, Evan McMullin, said Trump's remarks are tantamount to a threat to the country and its government.
"Trump's threats of more violence by warning of 'tremendous anger' and 'tremendous danger' in response to potential impeachment, a vital mechanism of our democracy, are further evidence of its justice and necessity," McMullin said.
Meanwhile, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has turned against Trump and will likely support his impeachment by the Senate.
McConnell is said to no longer wish to require Senate Republicans to object to the impeachment.
As many as 12 Republican senators are in favor of the impeachment. At last count early Wednesday five more Republican Party members are needed to find Trump guilty of "incitement of insurrection."
Persons close to McConnell said the Senate leader has come to the inescapable conclusion Trump committed impeachable offenses by inciting the violent insurrection Jan. 6 that resulted in the destruction of U.S. Capitol property and the deaths of six.
