President Trump is now the only president in American history to be impeached twice after ten House Republicans sided with Democrats for a final 232-197 impeachment vote Wednesday, charging President Trump with “incitement of insurrection” regarding the January 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol. While Speaker Nancy Pelosi has declined to say publicly when the House will send the impeachment article to the Senate, a source involved in the Democratic leadership deliberations tells ABC News that Pelosi plans to send it next week, where its fate remains unclear. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already said he will not call the Senate back into session prior to its scheduled January 19 return, one day before Joe Biden is sworn in as president and Trump leaves office. However, Sen. McConnell also signaled in a letter to his colleagues Wednesday that he hasn’t ruled out voting to convict President Donald Trump in a Senate impeachment trial, even as he made it clear he thinks that no trial should start until after Trump leaves office.
Shortly after he was impeached, President Trump on Wednesday released a video in which he said he “unequivocally condemn[ed]” the violence at last week’s riot at the Capitol, which he called a “calamity.” He further said he directed federal agencies to use “all necessary resources” to maintain order in Washington ahead of President-elect Biden’s inauguration. The president did not mention impeachment in his statement. In a lengthy statement of his own regarding Trump’s impeachment, President-elect Joe Biden called the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack “planned and coordinated,” carried out by domestic terrorists who were “incited to this violence by President Trump.” He also expressed hope that the Senate will move forward in a bifurcated manner, allowing movement on his agenda as it deals with the business of Trump’s impeachment trial.