There's a contentious House Rules Committee meeting ongoing about the resolution to call on Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment. Committee Chair McGovern is asking Jordan if he will concede that Biden won the election. Jordan says Biden will be president, but won't say he won.
Raskin weighs in: "All of us should do some soul-searching about five dead Americans."
He adds that there is "an enflamed right wing that thinks we're on the verge of a civil war."
A reminder that neither the president's campaign nor the numerous lawmakers who supported objecting to EC results have provided any evidence of voter fraud, just allegations.
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The House is now beginning two hours of debate on the article of impeachment charging President Trump with "incitement of insurrection."
Pelosi is the first speaker.
"He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love," Pelosi says. She says that removing Trump from office is "a constitutional remedy to make sure the republic is safe from this man."
Pelosi says the rioters "were not patriots," they were "domestic terrorists."
She asks House members, looking at the GOP side: "I ask you to search your souls and answer this question: is the president's war on democracy in keeping with the Constitution?"
FBI official Steven D'Antuono says in a briefing that the bureau has opened 160 case files related to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin: "I think the scope and scale of the investigation in these cases is really unprecedented." He says the Capitol complex is "literally a crime scene."
Sherwin says authorities have already identified more than 170 people that may have committed crimes last week, and they expect hundreds of cases by the end of their investigation.
And, the joint session is beginning...again. Timing of the next few hours depend on whether a senator will join a House member in objecting to election results.
We're on Georgia. If a senator objects, both chambers will go into debate for two hours again before a vote on the objections.
Applause on the floor as it is announced that senators have withdrawn their objections to the Georgia results, meaning objection cannot be entertained.
This is scary. Pence has left the Capitol, presumably for security reasons. A Capitol police officer just called on the press gallery to lock the doors.
Police in chamber. We have been locked in.
Senators/reporters have been evacuated. Extremely heavy police presence.
I'm in the House chamber as lawmakers gather to count EC votes. Remember, they're not "certifying" votes - the results have already been certified by the states. If a House member and a senator object to results, the chambers will go into debate - and the objection will fail.
Republicans are not following social distancing guidelines set for conduct in the chamber. Many of them are supposed to be sitting in the galleries to promote social distancing - Democratic members are following the rules, many are in the galleries.
Republicans gave a standing ovation when lawmakers Paul Gosar - wearing an American flag mask - and Ted Cruz objected to the results from Arizona. Democrats in the galleries jeered.