Democrats drafting articles to impeach Donald Trump

House Democrats are preparing to introduce articles of impeachment against Donald Trump this week.

House Democrats are preparing to introduce articles of impeachment against Donald Trump this week as calls grow for him to resign immediately after the invasion of the Capitol building.

Democrats and several Republicans are also stepping up pressure on Vice-President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment declaring the President unfit for office in order to remove him from power.

Mr Trump “has done something so serious — that there should be prosecution against him,” Democrat House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said as she on Sunday AEDT called on the President to resign “‘immediately”.

Jake Angeli went to Washington prompted by Donald Trump’s messages. Picture: ORF

The death of Capitol policeman Brian Sicknick, 42, takes to five the number of those who died during the storming of the Capitol shortly after Mr Trump urged his supporters to march upon it last Thursday AEDT.

Twitter said it was permanently suspending Mr Trump’s account, robbing him of his favourite means of communication.

“After close review of ­recent Tweets from the @realDon­aldTrump account and the context around them, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said.

Shortly before the suspension, Mr Trump tweeted: “The 75,000,000 great American patriots who voted for me, America FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the ­future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any shape of form.”

One of the President’s last tweets was to say he would not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, making him the first president since Andrew Johnson in 1868 to refuse to attend the inauguration of his successor.

“To those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20,” he tweeted.

A growing number of house Democrats are pushing for Mr Trump to be impeached for his role in inciting protesters who stormed the Capitol despite, the fact he has just over a week left as president. House majority whip James Clyburn said that “the sentiment of the caucus is moving” towards impeachment. “The American people have seen enough, and they are ready for us to do the job of impeaching this man,” he said.

So far, 185 of the 222 Democrat caucus in the house have co-sponsored articles of impeachment charging Mr Trump with inciting an insurrection and having “gravely endangered the security of the US”.

“It is the hope of members that the President will immediately resign,” Democrat House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Picture: AFP

Ms Pelosi has not decided whether to formally push ahead with the impeachment process which, under Senate rules, could not begin until January 19, Mr Trump’s last full day in office.

“It is the hope of members that the President will immediately resign,” she said. “But if he does not, I have instructed the rules committee to be prepared.”

Joe Biden appears cool on the idea of impeachment, although he has not formally repudiated it, and has said the Democrats need to focus on the new agenda of his administration. “If we were six months out, we should be moving everything to get him out of office — impeaching him again, trying to invoke the 25th Amendment, whatever it took to get him out of office,” he said. “But I am focused on us taking control as president and vice-president on the 20th and get our agenda moving as quickly as we can.”

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found that 57 per cent of Americans want Mr Trump to be removed immediately from office.

More Republicans have joined calls for Mr Trump to resign immediately, with senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska saying “I want him out. He has caused enough damage. He’s either been golfing or he’s been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice-president.”

Republican senator Ben Sasse said he would “definitely consider” impeachment because the President “disregarded his oath of office.”

Although Democrats would have the numbers to impeach Mr Trump in the house — for the second time — it is unlikely they would win the votes of 17 Republicans they would need in the Senate to convict him. Although Mr Trump would already be out of power, if the Senate convicted him, he would be barred from running for president again.

Mr Trump is said to have told aides he wanted protesters to only march upon the Capitol, not break into it. His decision to release a video a day after the riots in which he condemned the protesters and called for a peaceful transfer if power came after his lawyers warned him he might face legal jeopardy for inciting a mob.