LIVE VIDEO: Trump on verge of 2nd impeachment; voting underway

The Associated Press

Watch as Congress debates impeaching President Donald Trump:

The Latest on the fallout from the attack of the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump loyalists and the House’s push to impeach the president (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said in a note to his fellow Republican senators that he is undecided on whether President Donald Trump should be convicted if the House votes to impeach him.

McConnell said in the letter Wednesday: "While the press has been full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate."

The House is poised to vote to impeach Trump on Wednesday for a second time after he egged on a violent mob of his supporters who invaded the Capitol last week.

2:15 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he opposes violence in a statement read on the House floor as members debate impeaching him for his role in fomenting the violent insurrection at the Capitol last week.

Trump’s message was read Wednesday by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

Trump says in a statement: "In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind." Trump adds: "That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers."

Trump is on the verge of being impeached for a second time in a fast-moving House vote, just a week after he encouraged loyalists to "fight like hell" against election results and then a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Five people died, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.

The president falsely claimed widespread voter fraud cost him the election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

2:15 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he opposes violence in a statement read on the House floor as members debate impeaching him for his role in fomenting the violent insurrection at the Capitol last week.

Trump’s message was read Wednesday by GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

Trump says in a statement: "In light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind." Trump adds: "That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers."

Trump is on the verge of being impeached for a second time in a fast-moving House vote, just a week after he encouraged loyalists to "fight like hell" against election results and then a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Five people died, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.

The president falsely claimed widespread voter fraud cost him the election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

2 p.m.

Rep. Dan. Newhouse of Washington has added his name to the short list of Republicans supporting the impeachment of President Donald Trump.

He said Tuesday on the House floor that the article of impeachment is flawed, but he will not use process as an excuse to vote no.

He says, "There is no excuse for President Trump’s actions."

Newhouse says the president took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Yet he says when there was a "domestic threat at the door of the Capitol," the president "did nothing to stop it."

He says he will vote for impeachment "with a heavy heart and clear resolve."

1:45 p.m.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy says President Donald Trump "bears responsibility" for last week’s storming of the Capitol by his supporters.

McCarthy, a close Trump ally, says the president "should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding."

But McCarthy also says he believes it would be a mistake to impeach Trump in such a short time frame. Trump leaves office on Jan. 20 when Joe Biden is inaugurated.

The House is set to vote later Wednesday on impeaching Trump, accusing him of rallying the violent mob.

McCarthy says "a vote to impeach would further divide this nation, a vote to impeach will further fan the flames, the partisan division."

The California lawmaker is calling instead for a fact-finding commission and censure resolution.

1:20 p.m.

If the House impeaches President Donald Trump, a Senate trial on whether to convict him of inciting insurrection seems all but certain to have to wait until President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated.

That’s the word from a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The spokesman says aides to the Kentucky Republican have told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s staff that McConnell won’t agree to invoke powers calling senators into emergency session.

That means the Senate almost certainly won’t meet again until Jan. 19. That’s the day before Biden’s inauguration.

The House is set to vote later Wednesday on impeaching Trump, accusing him of rallying a violent mob of supporters to attack the Capitol last week.

12:45 p.m.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Donald Trump represents a “clear and present danger” to the nation and must be impeached.

Pelosi says in a House speech that members of Congress and the country as a whole “experienced the insurrection that violated the sanctity of the people’s Capitol and attempted to overturn the duly recorded will of the American people″ in the presidential election.

She says "we know that the president of the United States incited this insurrection this armed rebellion against our common country. He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love.″

Pelosi says Trump has “repeatedly lied” about the outcome of the election that he lost to Democrat Joe Biden and Trump has “sowed self-serving doubt about democracy and unconstitutionally sought to influence state officials to repeat this armed rebellion against our country.″

The House is set to vote Wednesday afternoon on impeaching Trump, accusing him of rallying a violent mob of supporters to attack the Capitol last week.

12 p.m.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina says the impeachment effort being pushed by House Democrats could "do great damage to the institutions of government" and he’s warning his GOP colleagues not to support it.

Graham is a frequent ally of President Donald Trump. Last week, Graham condemned the violent mob of the president’s supporters who invaded the Capitol. After that siege and after Trump had pushed the unconstitutional argument that Vice President Mike Pence could overturn the election results, Graham said to count him out and that "enough is enough."

Still, Graham has stayed in touch with the increasingly isolated president.

And Graham’s message to fellow Republicans on impeachment is that those "who legitimize this process, you are doing great damage not only to the country, the future of the presidency, but also to the party."

He says the millions of people who have supported Trump and his agenda "should not be demonized because of the despicable actions of a seditious mob."

At least five GOP House members have said they will support impeachment, and two Republican senators have called on Trump to resign. Another GOP senator has said he will take a look at the articles of impeachment when they are sent to the Senate.

10:40 a.m.

The debate was heated almost from the start as House sets up a vote to impeach President Donald Trump.

Democrats and a few Republicans say Trump must be removed immediately after he egged on a violent mob of supporters a week ago who then stormed the Capitol. The insurrection happened as some of Trump’s GOP allies were challenging his election defeat, echoing the president’s false claims that there was widespread fraud in his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

What to watch as House moves to impeach Trump for 2nd time

Most Republicans are saying impeachment is divisive. They’re not mentioning the president.

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio is one of Trump’s most vocal defenders. Jordan blames Democrats for objecting to previous election results and he’s repeating baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

But Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts says Democrats haven’t pushed conspiracy theories that a president won in a landslide when he actually lost — which is what happened to Trump.

McGovern is looking back at the deadly Capitol siege and saying "people died because of the big lies that were being told." And he says that’s enough to merit impeachment.

10:05 a.m.

Democratic lawmakers have opened the historic impeachment effort in the House by saying that every moment Donald Trump is in the White House the nation is in danger.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., says the debate is taking place at an "actual crime scene and we wouldn’t be here if it were not for the president of the United States."

The House is considering impeaching Trump for the second time after last week’s riots at the Capitol as lawmakers met to certify the election results. McGovern says it was Trump and his allies who were stoking the anger of the violent mob.

He says Trump told the crowd to march to the Capitol and "the signal was unmistakable."

Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma said Jan. 6th would live in his memory as the darkest day of his service in the House. But Cole says the Senate could not even begin to consider impeachment until after President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.

He says he can think of no action the House can take that would further divide the American people than the actions being taken Wednesday. He says "it’s unfortunate that a path to support healing is not the path the majority has chosen today."

9:50 a.m.

As the House opens its impeachment hearing, the District of Columbia National Guard says it has been authorized to arm troops assigned to security duty on the U.S. Capitol grounds.

The Guard said in a statement that the authority was requested by federal authorities and approved by Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy as of approximately 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Up to 15,000 Guard members are expected to be on duty in coming days in the district to support law enforcement in connection with the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. Authorities are concerned about threats of violence, following the insurrection at the Capitol last week.

9:25 a.m.

The House has opened its proceedings Wednesday, poised to impeach President Donald Trump for a second time exactly a week after his supporters stormed the Capitol to protest his election defeat.

At least five Republicans have said they will join Democrats in voting to remove Trump from office. The article of impeachment charges the president with "incitement of insurrection."

The House chaplain opened the session with a prayer for "seizing the scales of justice from the jaws of mob-ocracy."

A vote is expected by the end of the day.

8:15 a.m.

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger is predicting more Republicans will join him in voting to impeach President Donald Trump.

The House is set to vote Wednesday afternoon on impeaching Trump for a second time, accusing him of rallying a violent mob of supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol last week. If that isn’t an impeachable offense, Kinzinger said, "I don’t know what is."

Several other Republicans are backing impeachment, including No. 3 GOP leader Liz Cheney.

"This is one of these moments that transcends politics," the Illinois lawmaker told "CBS This Morning" in an interview ahead of the vote.

Besides Kinzinger and Cheney, other Republicans backing impeachment are John Katko of New York, Fred Upton of Michigan and Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington.

Kinzinger wouldn’t say how many more GOP lawmakers might vote to impeach, but said, "there’ll be more than the five you’ve seen so far."

7:06 a.m.

A reporter in Washington, D.C., shared photos Wednesday of "hundreds of troops napping and lining up in the Congressional Visitor Center," according to an update obtained by ABC News.

Congressional Reporter Nathaniel Reed reported surrounding streets "are largely blocked."