Thread by @dsamuelsohn

NEW: With just 8 days left in office, the "adults in the room" who had been keeping Trump from flying off the rails are leaving him to fend for himself after he spurred his supporters to attack the Capitol. by @tomlobianco & me @Politicsinsider ($) ow.ly/UEuf50D6YAH

Sure, most Rs aren't joining the charge to oust Trump. But they're not standing in the way either. And they're not rushing to his defense as they've done for the last 4 years, even in the face of a House plan to impeach him again, this time for inciting an insurrection."

There's no serious effort either involving vice president and other Republicans to send the president out the door via the 25th Amendment. Pence and his team are instead counting the hours until Trump leaves office.

But Pence's team has rebuffed any talk that Pence would pardon Trump should the president resign from office or temporarily step down in his final days to allow that move to happen, according to Republicans close to the outgoing VP.

"It'd be an investigation-worthy thing for sure," one of the GOP sources said of the legal pickle Pence would end up in should he pardon Trump. "I don't know that he's going to want to take it on, especially after the guy treated him like s---."

Adding to the building acrimony between the two men whose political careers will forever be inextricably linked, Trump has yet to apologize to his VP for the rioters threatening him and his family, said a Pence advisor, despite their meeting in private in the Oval Office Monday.

Asked Tuesday if the Republicans were kicking Trump to the curb, one Republican close to the White House replied: "Big time."

At least one former Trump advisor said Trump will finish out his term that ends at noon on January 20 when Biden takes the oath. "The president isn't going anywhere. He's not resigning. He'll stick it out," said Steven Groves, a former White House spokesman and legal advisor.

Alan Dershowitz, the famed law professor & defense attorney, told Insider he has not been contacted about representing Trump in a Senate trial & has no plans to defend him. "This is all political theater, and I'm not an actor," Dershowitz said of the second impeachment effort.

Much much more in this @businessinsider story. Worth the subscription, which is 100 pennies if you're just looking for a trial. Here's how to sign up: businessinsider.com/subscription