Trump calls for ‘no violence, no lawbreaking, no vandalism’

Yahoo Finance’s Alexis Christoforous and Jessica Smith discuss the latest out of Washington, D.C.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: House lawmakers are getting set to vote to impeach President Trump for an unprecedented second time for his role in inciting last week's deadly riots at the Capitol. Our Washington correspondent Jessica Smith is standing by now with more. Jessica, when is the final vote on impeachment expected?

JESSICA SMITH: Well, the latest guidance we've gotten says that it should start at about 3:00 or 3:30. But this is a very fluid situation. But we expect it to happen in the next 90 minutes or so. Though that vote will take some time.

And since we last talked, there have been quite a few developments here. First, Majority Leader McConnell's office says that he's not going to consent to bring the Senate back early before January 19. So that all but guarantees a Senate impeachment trial will happen in the early days of the Biden administration.

There had been some hope from Democrats that they could move quicker, that the Senate would come back and get that done later this week, perhaps starting on Friday. But it looks like that is out of the question at this point. We have also heard from the Republican leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, just a short time ago. He did say that President Trump is at fault, though he is not voting to impeach. Let's watch.

KEVIN MCCARTHY: The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding.

JESSICA SMITH: Now, we should note McCarthy did vote to object to the election results after that riot on Wednesday. But now he is calling for unity, and he is warning against impeachment, saying that he would rather see a censure and a fact-finding commission to learn more about what led up to the attack last week. We've also heard from Speaker Pelosi. She spoke on the floor before this debate got started, and she says, President Trump is a clear and present danger, and must be removed from office. Here's Speaker Pelosi.

NANCY PELOSI: The president saw the insurrectionist not as a face-- the foes of freedom, as they are, but as a means to a terrible goal, the goal of his personally clinging to power. The goal of thwarting the will of the people. The goal of ending, in a fiery and bloody clash, nearly 2 and 1/2 centuries of our democracy.

JESSICA SMITH: We've also just gotten a new statement from President Trump in the past few minutes. He says, in light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be no violence, no lawbreaking, and no vandalism of any kind. That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on all Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. But Alexis, President Trump, in the next few hours, looks like he will become the first president to be impeached twice.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right. Thanks so much, Jess. And of course, we're going to bring that to you live here on "Yahoo Finance Live".