Dems’ momentum builds to impeach Trump, Pelosi hits rioters
By LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Momentum among Democrats is continuing to build for a fresh and fast push to impeach President Donald Trump. And now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is accusing his backers who violently invaded the Capitol this week of choosing “their whiteness over democracy.” Pelosi spoke as Rhode Island Democratic Rep. David Cicilline says an impeachment article he and colleagues have drafted accusing Trump of inciting insurrection has has collected 176 co-sponsors. The lawmakers plan to formally introduced the proposal Monday, and a vote is possible by Wednesday. Pelosi spoke to her San Francisco constituents Saturday but shed no fresh light on Democrats’ plans to move against Trump.

More arrests in Capitol riot as more video reveals brutality
By RICK CALLAHAN Associated Press
Police have charged more Capitol rioters as more graphic details of the insurrection emerge. A man who wore a horned, fur hat when he allegedly joined a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters in storming the nation’s Capitol is among the latest people charged in Wednesday’s mayhem that left five people dead. Also arrested is a Florida man allegedly photographed grinning as he carried away House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern. Among the ugly images in Wednesday’s siege is a bloodied officer screaming as he is being crushed in a doorway. Another officer tumbled over a railing into the crowd below after being body-slammed from behind.

Top Republican says Trump committed ‘impeachable offenses’
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and ALAN FRAM Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is facing growing Democratic momentum to impeach him a second time. And a top Republican, Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, says he thinks Trump’s role in encouraging a deadly riot at the Capitol is an “impeachable offense.” But Toomey has stopped short of saying he would vote to remove Trump from office. A Democratic congressman, David Cicciline of Rhode Island, says an impeachment proposal already has 185 co-sponsors. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is telling Democratic colleagues to be prepared to return to Washington this coming week. Pelosi says Trump should be held accountable but hasn’t committed to an impeachment vote.

(Story by Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is back on Twitter praising those who voted for him and calling them “American Patriots.” Trump’s comments Friday come a day after he acknowledged his electoral defeat amid growing talk in Washington of trying to force him from office early. On Thursday, Trump called for “healing and reconciliation” after a mob of his supporters assaulted the Capitol on Wednesday. But on Friday, Trump was back to division. Instead of offering condolences to the police officer who died from injuries sustained during the riot, Trump took to Twitter to commend the “great American Patriots” who voted for him. He said ”they will not be disrespected or treated unfairly.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are discussing whether to move forward with impeaching President Donald Trump if his Cabinet doesn’t try to remove him for the mob assault on the U.S. Capitol. House Democrats are set to hold a caucus meeting Friday to discuss their options. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer are also calling for Trump’s Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to force Trump from office before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20. If that doesn’t happen, Pelosi says impeachment could begin. The House already impeached Trump in 2019, but the Republican-led Senate acquitted him in early 2020.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the fallout of the storming of the Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump loyalists (all times local):

10 a.m.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says those responsible for police officer Brian Sicknick’s death from the siege at the Capitol by a mob loyal to President Donald Trump “must be brought to justice.”

Pelosi said Friday she was lowering flags at the Capitol in his honor.

Sicknick died “after defending the Capitol complex and protecting those who serve and work here. The perpetrators of Officer Sicknick’s death must be brought to justice,” she said.

Pro-Trump supporters were urged on by the president Wednesday to the Capitol where Congress was tallying the Electoral College votes to confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s election.

Five people are now dead from the violent melee.

“The violent and deadly act of insurrection targeting the Capitol, our temple of American Democracy, and its workers was a profound tragedy and stain on our nation’s history,” Pelosi said.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — John Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, is taking a definitive step toward running for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2022. Fetterman said Friday he’s exploring a run for U.S. Senate. Previously, Fetterman had said that he was considering running for either governor or U.S. Senate in 2022. But Fetterman says he’s no longer interested in running for governor. He says he’ll have a final decision in the coming weeks. Both offices, governor and U.S. Senate, are coming open in 2023. Fetterman, the former mayor of small-town Braddock, near Pittsburgh, came in third in 2016′s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate before running successfully for lieutenant governor in 2018.