US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that she has instructed the House Rules Committee to prepare to impeach outgoing President Donald Trump unless he resigns, after two days of unprecedented bloody riots of his supporters in the Congress building.
Pelosi said in a statement issued after her meeting with the Democratic Bloc in the House of Representatives that the House reserves all its options, including the 25th amendment to the constitution or the parliamentary trial of the president.
Democratic lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs Committee said in a letter to Pelosi that the accountability tool for those who harm the country and its democracy is the parliamentary trial.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers in Congress published a draft of an indictment against President Trump, in preparation for his parliamentary trial on charges of major crimes and misdemeanors, according to the draft.
The draft focuses on President Trump's actions after the election, and says his trial was motivated by his incitement to violence and the storming of Congress.
The draft also stipulates that Trump would be barred from holding any government position in the future.
Democrat Ted Liu posted on his Twitter page a copy of the draft that included a single item titled "Incitement to Rebellion."
The document stated that Trump, by repeating the claim of winning the elections and encouraging his supporters to attack Congress, endangered the security of the United States and government institutions, threatened the integrity of the democratic system, and impeded the peaceful transfer of power.
The document adds that Trump has shown that he remains a threat to national security, democracy and the constitution if he is allowed to continue in office.
Rep. Liu said that more than 150 lawmakers signed the indictment a few hours after it was published, and confirmed that the indictment was drafted in this way with the aim of gaining the support of Republican lawmakers.
For his part, US President-elect Joe Biden left Congress the responsibility for launching a mechanism to impeach President Donald Trump or not, less than two weeks before the end of his term.
At a press conference in Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday, Biden - who will be inaugurated as president of the United States on January 20 - said that the "fastest way" for Trump to leave the presidency is "to take the oath on January 20."
He added, "What happens before or after is a decision that Congress must take, but what I am looking forward to is his leaving office."
Warning rejected
On the other hand, White House spokesman Gad Derry said that holding President Trump accountable, with only 12 days remaining until the end of his term, will only exacerbate the division in the country.
For his part, the Chairman of the Judicial Committee in the Senate, Lindsey Graham, said in a tweet that he is convinced that the parliamentary trial of President Trump in this circumstance will increase the division and weaken the presidency.
The Republican senator added that he hoped President-elect Biden would share this view so that the wounds could be healed, through an orderly transfer of power.
Graham's position comes despite what Trump's supporters have been exposed to, as the Politico correspondent posted on his Twitter account a video showing a number of President Trump's supporters harassing Senator Graham at Washington DC airport and calling him a traitor because of what they described as his coup against Trump.
The leader of the Republican minority in the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy also said that the parliamentary trial of the president 12 days before the inauguration will lead to the division of the country.
Senior Democratic Party officials urged Vice President Mike Pence to declare with a majority of government members that Trump is "ineligible" to take office, based on the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution.
But Pence does not endorse this for fear it would exacerbate the tension, a close relative told the New York Times.
The 25th amendment stipulates that in the event of the death, resignation or removal of the president, the vice president will run the country.
Calls to resign
Meanwhile, calls have escalated for Trump to resign days before his departure from office, as the storming of Congress prompted resignations in the Trump administration.
The restlessness is evident within the Republican Party, the Trump government and his team, as his behavior has alienated part of his camp, and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Transportation Secretary Eileen Chow resigned.
But CNN quoted White House advisers as saying that President Trump never contemplates resigning, nor does he believe he has made any mistake.
The Wall Street Journal - owned by businessman Rupert Murdoch who was an ally of Trump - called in an editorial for the outgoing president to assume his responsibilities and resign, writing, "It would be better for everyone - including himself - if he leaves." quietly".
Amid pressure from Democrats and some Republicans to impeach Trump or prosecute him in parliament, former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell said that impeachment demands and a parliamentary trial would take time.
"I hope Trump does what Nixon did and resign," Powell added, referring to former US President Richard Nixon.
On Friday, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska became the first Republican woman in the Senate to call on President Trump to resign after his supporters stormed the Congress building.
"I want him to resign, I want him out (of the White House), he has caused enough damage," Murkowski told Anchorage Daily News - which is published in Alaska.
Reuters reported that at least one Republican member of the Senate has supported possible efforts by Democratic members of the US Congress to take measures to impeach Trump for a second time.
The House of Representatives - which is dominated by Democrats - approved Trump for the first time in December 2019 in connection with pressure he had put on the President of Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, but the Senate acquitted him in February 2020.
Only two presidents in US history have been held accountable, and neither has ever faced impeachment again.