Impeachment trial – live: Trump poured ‘kerosene on the flames’ as Pence family fled for lives, Democrats say

Donald Trump is reportedly planning to finally let go of his “Stop the steal” slogan, as his words from his 6 January speech are scrutinised in the impeachment hearing, according to media reports quoting sources close to him.

The former president has realised if he continues using the slogan it can be politically damaging, and his constant allegations of election fraud will remind people of the riots, according to CNN.

“He’s past the election – he understands he needs to be past it,” the report quoted an adviser as saying. Earlier reports said the president was confident of continuing with his messaging of being cheated in the elections and wanted to launch his 2024 bid.

However, if he is convicted by the Senate impeachment trial, the former president will not be allowed to run again.

The bid to create an anti-Trump third party is facing resistance and scepticism from traditional Republicans, as they worry about the resources required and what the new front could hope to achieve.

Earlier, news agency Reuters reported that over a hundred Republicans, including former members of the Congress and staff of former presidents, were in talks to form a third new party, unhappy with the way it dealt with Donald Trump and his rising influence in the GOP. 

The members also held a Zoom meeting last week. However, the news agency has reported that several Republicans are now sceptical about the plan. 

The agency spoke to several Republicans, including two of the most prominent anti-Trump Republicans in Congress - Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois - who rejected the idea of a breakaway party. 

Other Republicans, who have been critics of Mr Trump expressed similar scepticism that a “third party would accomplish little beyond splitting the votes of conservatives and helping Democrats get elected,” Reuters reported.

House Democrats rested their case on the third day of the impeachment hearing, again relying partly on shocking videos and social media posts from the rioters, as they urged the jurors to render “impartial justice”.

“They truly believed that the whole intrusion was at the president’s orders, and we know that because they said so,” said representative Diana Degette.

Several videos of Mr Trump also show him clearly asking the crowd to “go to the Capitol” with him.

Watch the full video here

Republicans could face significant pressure to impeach Joe Biden should they win back a majority in the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, California congressman Devin Nunes has warned.

Speaking to Fox News anchor Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, the Donald Trump loyalist suggested the GOP’s right-wing fringe could use any newfound power in Congress to push for a revenge impeachment against President Biden after his predecessor became the first commander-in-chief in American history to be impeached twice by the House.

“Republicans have a good chance of taking the House in 2022,” Mr Nunes said. “Now, if that happens, and let’s – for example, we don’t know what’s gonna happen to Hunter Biden’s laptop. We don’t know what’s gonna happen with the [John] Durham investigation [into the origins of the Russia inquiry]. But I could see the pressure would become great for us to actually have to impeach Biden.”

Joe Sommerlad reports.

With eight hours left to present arguments in support of the Senate voting to convict former President Donald Trump, House Democrats have a plan, writes The Independent's Andrew Feinberg.

"Specifically, sources say they will aim to use their remaining time to present more evidence of Trump’s lack of remorse for his role in the attempted insurrection and the national harm brought about by the entire episode. "

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

The "tribute" video – featuring a poem meditating on patience and self-control in the face of adversity – was aired as House impeachment managers prepared to detail the former president's years-long history of encouraging violence against his perceived political enemies, as the third day of his trial was underway following his impeachment for inciting the deadly insurrection.

The Independent's Alex Woodward reports.

Nancy Pelosi has announced she will grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the United States Capitol Police officers who protected the Capitol during the deadly pro-Trump mob attacks last month.

The speaker said in a Dear Colleague Letter issued on Thursday she was planning on awarding the highest civilian honour to officers like USCP Officer Eugene Goodman, seen saving Senator Mitt Romney in new video unveiled during former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial earlier this week.

The officer’s heroic actions were also previously seen in a viral video taken during the riots that showed him thwarting a groups of rioters from breaching the Senate chambers as lawmakers stood just feet away in hiding.

“That day, those men and women risked and gave their lives to save ours, becoming martyrs for our democracy,” Ms Pelosi wrote on Thursday. “The outstanding heroism and patriotism of our heroes ... demand our deepest appreciation.”

Chris Riotta has the story.

Over the course of two days, the House impeachment managers presented an ironclad case for convicting former President Donald Trump. Few could disagree that what was portrayed was a holistic condemnation of Trumpism as a violent, extremist, authoritarian ideology, writes Ahmed Baba for Indy Voices.

"What would be offensive is Senate Republicans failing to hold a former president accountable for inciting an insurrection against American democracy. What would be absurd is to continue to tell the American people to "move on" from this deadly attack without taking action to ensure it doesn't happen again."

See the prosecution's case against Donald Trump in this six-minute supercut of the historic second impeachment trial.

Donald Trump was far sicker with Covid-19 than was publicly acknowledged at the time, with dangerously low oxygen levels that could have put him on a ventilator, new sources have claimed.

A new report from The New York Times has claimed Trump's oxygen levels were so low that doctors feared that he may need to be placed on a ventilator. Newly revealed scans of the president’s lungs allegedly show lung infiltrates, which happen when the organ becomes inflamed and is filled with substances like fluid or bacteria and occurs only in patients with a severe case of the virus, the newspaper claims.

Danielle Zoellner has more on Covid and Trump here.