LIVE: Donald Trump impeached for historic second time over US Capitol riots

Trump impeachment vote LIVE updates: US House impeaches Trump for a historic second time after deadly Capitol riot. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

5:00 AM

Trump says he unequivocally condemns violence seen last week

Trump says he unequivocally condemns violence seen last week. He said no true supporter of his could condone political violence and said, “If you do any of these things you are not supporting our movement”.

 

Trump also said he is asking everyone who has supported his agenda should look for ways to ease tensions.

 

4:55 AM

Trump does not mention impeachment in video remarks posted to Twitter

4:30 AM

Parler asks US court to order Amazon to restore service to social media app

Parler, a social media outlet favored by some supporters of US President Donald Trump, urged a court Wednesday to order Amazon.com Inc to put it back online.
 

Amazon had shut down Parler following the Jan. 6 riot by Trump supporters at the Capitol aimed at preventing Democrat Joe Biden from becoming president. Parler filed a lawsuit against Amazon on Jan. 11, accusing it of making an illegal decision to shut it down to benefit Twitter Inc.
 

In its filing, Parler argued that Amazon Web Services breached its contract by cutting it off. Amazon earlier had said it had warned Parler about ugly and threatening language on its site, citing posts with vile language used to describe former first lady Michelle Obama, as well as postings such as "the only good democrat is a dead one. Kill'em all." Parler defended the insults to Obama as hateful but covered by the Constitution. The threat, the respondent said, "has been passed on to our regulator contact for investigation." In its filing Wednesday, Parler said it had removed most problematic posts.
 

A second exhibit showed Parler postings that threatened specific acts of violence against people, some of whom are named while others are described as "liberals" or black, gay, Jewish or transgender.
 

"We explained that given the events at the US Capitol Building and the threats regarding the upcoming inauguration, we had real concern about this content leading to more violence," an unnamed Amazon executive said in a statement included with the exhibits, referring to Biden's inauguration on Jan 20.
 

Parler CEO John Matze said in an interview with Reuters that he was unsure if the app, which had more than 12 million users, will ever go back online. "It could be never," he said.
 

4:29 AM

McConnell says inauguration should be focus before trial

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Republican senators he’s reached no decision on whether he’ll vote to convict President Donald Trump on the House’s impeachment charge, and he doesn’t plan to call an emergency session to begin the Senate trial before Jan. 19.
 

In a letter to GOP colleagues obtained by Bloomberg, McConnell said regardless of when the Senate trial begins, there won’t be time to reach a verdict before Trump leaves office on Jan. 20.
 

“There has never been any chance that any fair or appropriate trial would conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in,” McConnell said. “In light of this reality, I believe it will serve our nation best if both Congress and the executive branch spend the next seven days completely focused on facilitating a safe inauguration and an orderly transfer of power to the incoming Biden administration.”
 

The House voted 232-197 Wednesday to impeach Trump on one article charging him with incitement of insurrection. Ten Republicans joined with all Democrats in favor of impeachment.
 

3:42 AM

No chance of "fair" trial until after Trump leaves office says Senate leader

3:29 AM

Parler CEO says social media app, favored by Trump supporters, may not return

Social media platform Parler, which has gone dark after being cut off by major service providers that accused the app of failing to police violent content, may never get back online, said its CEO John Matze.
 

As a procession of business vendors severed ties with the two-year-old site following the storming of the US Capitol last week, Matze said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that he does not know when or if it will return.
 

"It could be never," he said. "We don't know yet." The app said in a legal filing it has over 12 million users.
 

Matze said that Parler was talking to more than one cloud computing service but refused to disclose names, citing the likelihood of harassment for the companies involved. He said the best thing would be if Parler could get back on Amazon.
 

Parler on Monday filed a lawsuit against the company, which Amazon.com Inc said has no merit. Matze said the company was considering suing other vendors but declined to say more.
 

Amazon cut Parler, a platform favored by supporters of US President Donald Trump, off its servers this weekend for failing to effectively moderate violent content. Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google also kicked Parler from their app stores.

 

"It's hard to keep track of how many people are telling us that we can no longer do business with them," said Matze.
 

Amazon on Tuesday filed exhibits that showed it had warned Parler late last year about vile and threatening language on its site before cutting off the platform after the attack on the US Capitol.
 

Matze said Parler had also been booted from online payments service Stripe and from American Express and had lost its Scylla Enterprise database. Parler could not send SMS messages after being banned by Twilio and could not use Slack to contact its "jury" of paid and volunteer users who make Parler content moderation decisions after being ditched by the workplace messaging app.
 

The vendors did not immediately respond to Reuters requests to comment.
 

Matze said that some Parler employees had requested to take a few weeks off work and also said he and staff had received threats and people showing up at their houses.
 

He said there had been no changes to investors in Parler, which gets funding from hedge fund investor Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer.
 

3:26 AM

House impeaches Trump after US Capitol siege; his fate in Senate hands

The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.

 

The vote in the Democratic-controlled House was 232-197 following a deadly assault on American democracy, with 10 Republicans joining the Democrats in backing impeachment.
 

But it appeared unlikely that the extraordinarily swift impeachment would lead to Trump's ouster before the Republican president's four-year term ends and Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. The Senate's Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, rejected Democratic calls to convene the Senate in emergency session to begin an immediate impeachment trial, according to a spokesman.
 

The House passed a single article of impeachment - a formal charge - accusing Trump of "incitement of insurrection," focused upon an incendiary speech he delivered to thousands of supporters shortly before the pro-Trump mob rampaged through the Capitol. The mob disrupted the formal certification of Biden's victory over Trump in the Nov. 3 election, sent lawmakers into hiding and left five people dead, including a police officer.

 

During his speech, Trump repeated false claims that the election was fraudulent and exhorted supporters to march on the Capitol. Read more

3:12 AM

Majority of House votes to impeach Trump after US Capitol siege

A majority of the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to make Donald Trump the first US president ever to be impeached twice, formally charging him in his waning days in power with inciting an insurrection just a week after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.
 

With the vote ongoing, a majority of lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled chamber voted in favor of impeachment over an incident that represented a deadly assault on American democracy.
 

But it appeared unlikely that the extraordinarily swift impeachment would lead to Trump's ouster before the Republican president's four-year term ends and Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. The Senate's Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, rejected Democratic calls to convene the Senate in emergency session to begin an immediate impeachment trial, according to a spokesman.
 

The House passed a single article of impeachment - a formal charge - accusing Trump of "incitement of insurrection," focused upon an incendiary speech he delivered to thousands of supporters shortly before the pro-Trump mob rampaged through the Capitol. The mob disrupted the formal certification of Biden's victory over Trump in the Nov. 3 election, sent lawmakers into hiding and left five people dead, including a police officer.
 

2:54 AM

Donald Trump impeached, again

2:49 AM

US House begins vote to impeach Trump for a second time