WASHINGTON: Democrats' momentum for a fresh drive to quickly impeach outgoing President Donald Trump have gained support and a top Republican said the president's role in the deadly riot at the Capitol by a violent mob of Trump supporters was worthy of rebuke.
Senator Pat Toomey said on Saturday he believed Trump had committed "impeachable offences".
But he stopped short of saying whether he would vote to remove the president from office at the conclusion of a Senate trial if the House sent over articles of impeachment.
"I don't know what they are going to send over and one of the things that I'm concerned about, frankly, is whether the House would completely politicise something," Toomey said on Fox News Channel, speaking of the Democratic-controlled House.
"I do think the president committed impeachable offenses, but I don't know what is going to land on the Senate floor, if anything," Toomey said.
The new Democratic effort to stamp Trump's presidential record -- for the second time and days before his term ends -- with the indelible mark of impeachment gained momentum on Saturday.
Representative David Cicilline, a leader of the House effort to draft impeachment articles -- or charges -- accusing Trump of inciting insurrection, said his group had grown to include 185 co-sponsors.
Lawmakers plan to formally introduce the proposal on Monday in the House, where articles of impeachment must originate.
A vote could be possible by Wednesday -- exactly one week before Democrat Joe Biden becomes president at noon on January 20.
The articles, if passed by the House, would then be transmitted to the Senate for a trial, with senators acting as jurors who would ultimately vote on whether to acquit or convict Trump.
If convicted, Trump would be removed from office and succeeded by the vice president.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, however, shared no details about her party's plans as she addressed her hometown San Francisco constituents during an online video conference on Saturday.
"Justice will be done. Democracy will prevail. And America will be healed," she said.
"But it is a decision that we have to make."
A violent and largely white mob of Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and rampaged through the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to scatter as they were putting the final, formal touches on Biden's victory over Trump in the Electoral College.
The crowd surged to the domed symbol of American democracy following a rally near the White House, where Trump repeated his bogus claims that the election was stolen from him and urged his supporters to march in force toward the Capitol.
Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died as a result of the siege.
"It has been an epiphany for the world to see that there are people in our country led by this president, for the moment, who have chosen their whiteness over democracy," Pelosi said of the attack.
She added: "This cannot be exaggerated. The complicity, not only the complicity, the instigation of the president of United States, must and will be addressed."
No.4 House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York reiterated support for moving against what he deemed "an act of sedition that was incited and encouraged by Donald Trump".
Speaking of Trump, Jeffries said Saturday: "He should be impeached, convicted and thrown out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and forever banished to the dustbin of history."
Outrage over the attack and Trump's role in egging it on capped a divisive, chaotic presidency like few others in the nation's history.
There are less than two weeks until Trump is out of office but Democrats have made clear they don't want to wait that long.
Trump, meanwhile, has few fellow Republicans speaking out in his defence.
He's become increasingly isolated, holed up in the White House as he has been abandoned in the aftermath of the riot by many aides, leading Republicans and, so far, two Cabinet members both women.
Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has long voiced her exasperation with Trump's conduct in office, told the Anchorage Daily News on Friday that he simply "needs to get out".
Senator Ben Sasse, another Trump critic, said more important than what happens to Trump "is what happens to the United States people and this union 12 days and beyond".
But the Nebraska Republican also told 'CBS This Morning' on Friday that he "will definitely consider" whatever articles the House sends over because he believes Trump "has disregarded his oath of office" to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
Biden, meanwhile, reiterated that he has long viewed Trump as unfit for office.
But on Friday he sidestepped a question about impeachment, saying what Congress does "is for them to decide".
After spending many weeks refusing to concede defeat in the November election, Trump promised -- after the Capitol riot -- to oversee a smooth transfer of power to Biden.
He called for reconciliation and healing, but then announced he will not attend the inauguration -- the first such presidential snub since just after the Civil War.
Meanwhile, West Virginia state lawmaker has resigned as he faces charges of entering a restricted area of the US Capitol after he livestreamed himself with rioters.
In a letter, Republican Delegate Derrick Evans notified Govovernor Jim Justice he was stepping down, effective immediately.
Evans, 35, appeared before a federal judge in Huntington, West Virginia, on Friday after being arrested.
If convicted, he faces up to a year and a half in federal prison for two misdemeanor charges: entering a restricted area and disorderly conduct.
Evans issued a statement on Saturday that he takes full responsibility for his actions, adding he deemed it best for him to resign to "focus on my personal situation and those I love."
"I take full responsibility for my actions, and deeply regret any hurt, pain or embarrassment I may have caused my family, friends, constituents and fellow West Virginians," said Evans.
"I hope this action I take today can remove any cloud of distraction from the state Legislature, so my colleagues can get to work in earnest building a brighter future for our state. And more importantly, I hope it helps to begin the healing process, so we can all move forward and come together as One Nation, Under God," he added.
In a since-deleted video that was widely shared online, Evans is seen clamouring inside a jampacked Capitol building doorway, trying with others to push his way inside.
He hollers along with other loyalists of President Donald Trump and fist-bumps a law enforcement officer who let them in.
After pushing into the building, video shows, Evans milled around the Capitol Rotunda, where historic paintings depict the republics founding, and implored others to not vandalize artwork and busts.
Some of the pieces were later vandalized.
Evans joined and encouraged a crowd unlawfully entering the Capitol after days of telling his 30,000 Facebook followers to "Fight For Trump" in the nation's capital on Wednesday, FBI agent David DiMarco wrote in a criminal complaint.
Before the rush to the Capitol, Evans posted a video in which he said, "They're making an announcement right now: If Pence betrays us you better get your mind right because were storming that building," the charging documents state.
He then laughs and adds, "I'm just the messenger, so don't be hating on me."
Legislators from at least seven other states travelled to Washington to back Trump and demonstrate against the counting of electoral votes confirming Democrat Joe Biden's victory.
It's unknown if any other elected official joined the attack on the Capitol.
West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, a Republican, said it's time to turn the page, move on and heal.
"In announcing his resignation, Delegate Evans said he accepted responsibility for his actions and apologized to those hes hurt," Hanshaw said in a statement.
"In this time of overheated, hyperbolic political rage, I think that's a good first step for us all to take right now."
Evans lost in the 2016 House of Delegates primary as a Democrat, finishing sixth among seven candidates in the district.
He refiled as a Libertarian for the 2016 general election but finished last among five candidates.
He switched to the Republican Party for the 2020 election, received 50 per cent of the vote in the GOP primary for the 19th District in June and was the leading vote-getter for two seats in November with 37 pe cent of the vote.
Like several other political first-time winners in November's West Virginia elections, Evans swept aside a Democratic rival to win his seat representing Wayne County.
High GOP turnout credited to Trump's drawing power elevated down-ballot Republicans in the state and gave Republicans a statehouse supermajority.