Trump 'gravely endangered' US govt institutions - impeachment draft

President Donald Trump would face impeachment on a single article of incitement of insurrection, according to a draft document obtained by NBC news.

Democrats plan to introduce misconduct charges on Monday that could lead to a second impeachment of Trump, US media are reporting.

The draft of the article of impeachment against Trump drawn up by Democratic members of the House of Representatives after the storming of the US Capitol accuses him of engaging in high crimes and misdemeanors by inciting insurrection.

The draft says the Republican president willfully made statements that encouraged imminent lawless action at the Capitol.

It says Trump threatened the integrity of democratic system, interfered with a peaceful transition and imperilled a branch of government, betraying his trust as president and 'gravely endangering' US security and government institutions.

The draft says Trump has demonstrated he will remain a threat if he is allowed to stay in office.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi had yet to endorse the language of the draft.

With a majority in the House, Democrats appear poised for a historic first: No president has ever been impeached twice.

But it is unclear if lawmakers would be able to remove Trump from office, as any impeachment would prompt a trial in the Senate, where his fellow Republicans hold sway.

Top Democrats have called on Vice President Mike Pence and Trump's Cabinet to invoke the US Constitution's 25th Amendment, which allows them to remove the president if he is unable to discharge his official duties. But Pence is opposed to the idea, an adviser said.

Democrats, who said a House vote on impeachment could come later in the week, hope the threat of impeachment could intensify pressure on Pence and the Cabinet to act to remove Trump before his term ends in less than two weeks.

The sources said the articles of impeachment, which are formal charges of misconduct, were crafted by Democratic Representatives David Cicilline, Ted Lieu and Jamie Raskin.

A copy of the measure circulating among members of Congress charges Trump with "inciting violence against the government of the United States" in a bid to overturn his loss to President-elect Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

The articles also cite Trump's hour-long phone call last week with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he asked him to "find" enough votes to overturn Biden's victory in that state.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans want Trump to be immediately removed from office, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The national public opinion survey, conducted Thursday and Friday, also showed that seven out of ten of those who voted for Trump, a Republican, in November opposed the action of the hardcore supporters who broke into the Capitol while lawmakers were meeting to certify the election victory of Democrat Joe Biden.

Nearly 70 percent of Americans surveyed also said they disapprove of Trump's actions in the run-up to Wednesday's assault.

Pelosi called Trump "unhinged" on Friday and said Congress must do everything possible to protect Americans, even though Trump's term in office will end on 20 January when Biden is sworn in.

She also said she had spoken with the nation's top general, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, about preventing Trump from initiating military hostilities or launching a nuclear weapon.

The extraordinary developments came two days after Trump exhorted thousands of followers to march to the Capitol, prompting a chaotic scene in which crowds breached the building, sent lawmakers into hiding and left a police officer and four others dead in their wake.

At least one Senate Republican, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, said he would consider supporting an impeachment proceeding.

Sasse, a frequent Trump critic, told CBS News on Friday he would "definitely consider" any articles of impeachment because the president "disregarded his oath of office".

Trump allies, including Senator Lindsey Graham and the House Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, had urged Democrats to shelve talk of impeachment to avoid further division.

"If Speaker Pelosi pushes impeachment in the last days of the Trump presidency it will do more harm than good," Graham said on Twitter.

If the House impeaches Trump, the decision on whether to remove him would fall to the Republican-controlled Senate, which has already acquitted him once before. With Trump's term ending a day after the Senate is scheduled to return from recess on 19 January, the chances of an actual ouster appear slim.

Removing a US president requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not commented on a possible impeachment.

Biden has blamed Trump for inciting Wednesday's violence but has not signalled whether he supports impeachment. Pelosi told members on a Democratic conference call that she would speak to Biden on Friday afternoon, according to a source who listened in.

She also said she had gotten assurances from Milley that there are safeguards in place for the use of nuclear weapons, the source said.

Milley's office said Pelosi had initiated the call and that the general "answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority".

Federal charges being laid

A West Virginia state lawmaker and a man pictured sitting at Pelosi's desk are among those facing federal charges stemming from the siege, federal prosecutors said on Friday.

In addition, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen announced the FBI would team up with Washington's police department to jointly investigate the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries sustained while defending the US Capitol.

"Just because you've left the DC region, you can still expect a knock on the door if we find out you were part of the criminal activity at the Capitol," Steven D'antuono, the FBI Washington Field Office's assistant director in charge, said at a telephone news briefing.

D'antuono declined to characterize the probe into Sicknick's death as a homicide investigation during the call, saying the circumstances of the officer's death were still being reviewed.

"We're not going to go into it at this point because it's an active investigation," he said.

Late on Thursday evening, the Capitol Police confirmed Sicknick had died after sustaining injuries while on duty at the US Capitol during the riot.

After being injured by protesters, the officer returned to his office where he collapsed. He died at a hospital.

The Capitol Police have said the Washington police's homicide unit is probing the death.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and fellow officers of US Capitol Police Officer Brian D Sicknick, who succumbed last night to the injuries he suffered defending the US Capitol, against the violent mob who stormed it on January 6th," Rosen said in a statement.

Ken Kohl, a prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office, told the news briefing that West Virginia delegate Derrick Evans now faces criminal charges after he apparently "recorded himself storming the Capitol".

Kohl said the department is also charging Richard Barnett of Arkansas in connection with his entering Speaker Pelosi's office where he "left a note and he removed some of the speaker's mail".

- Reuters