


Updated at 3:16 p.m. ET


In a video released Thursday night, the president said his focus now was on an "orderly and seamless transition of power." The move came just a day after he incited mob violence at the U.S. Capitol that resulted in the deaths of five people.

That focus didn't last very long, however.





Upon hearing that Trump won't attend, Biden matter-of-factly on Friday afternoon called the decision "one of the few things he and I have ever agreed on." He said Vice President Pence is "welcome to come. We'd be honored to have him there."

Trump's grudging acceptance that he won't continue to be president after Jan. 20 has done little to quell the determination of scores of lawmakers — a growing number of Republicans included — to make the president pay a price.


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls for Trump's removal from office on Thursday.


The 25th Amendment

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment allows for the removal of a president who "is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office."


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer are calling on Pence to invoke it, and it has apparently been talked about among some Cabinet members.

But Pence appears to have little appetite for going forward with that. Pelosi and Schumer said Thursday they tried to call Pence to discuss it but were left on hold for 25 minutes before being told the vice president wouldn't be speaking with them.

Impeachment, take two


"The sentiment of the caucus is heading in that direction," House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina said Friday afternoon on MSNBC.

The House of Representatives could move quickly to file articles of impeachment, vote on them and send them to the Senate. The Senate would then have to take them up immediately. Impeachment takes precedence over any other business.

The problem is: The Senate is adjourned until Jan. 19, and Biden's inauguration is the next day.

So removing Trump from office isn't going to happen through impeachment given that timeline. It would also delay confirmation of Biden's Cabinet. That might be less of a priority right now than holding Trump to some account, but it would leave Biden without secretaries of defense, homeland security or state, for example, as he takes office.

Biden sidestepped the issue Friday afternoon, saying that impeachment is "a decision for the Congress to make" and that he's focused on three issues — the coronavirus, vaccine distribution and the economy. He said the "quickest" way to get Trump out of office is for him and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to be sworn in and get to work.

The House may well go through with impeaching Trump for the reason of trying to stop Trump from holding political office again.

The Constitution, under Article I, Section 3, Clause 7, says that "judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States."









House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said he reached out Friday to Biden "to lower the temperature."


That came despite McCarthy joining objections to Biden's certification Wednesday, both before and after the mob stormed the Capitol.


Not following presidential orders



That's not without precedent.

"You may recall back during the impeachment period with Richard Nixon, Secretary of Defense Jim Schlesinger put out the word — do not follow any order that involves using nuclear weapons until you check with me or Secretary [Henry] Kissinger," William Cohen, defense secretary under President Bill Clinton, told PBS NewsHour this week before the events at the Capitol. "And I would expect the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who is not in the chain of command, I would expect the acting secretary of defense to do something quite similar to that."



But that could only last for so long.


Because of the timeline and the politics of the Republican Party, any real accountability for Trump could come after he leaves office — whether that's through legal action related to the president's incitement of the violence, legal investigations in New York or simply through damage to his brand and business empire.

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