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

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President Joe Biden has announced today he will terminate the national emergency declaration the former administration issued for the US-Mexico border as part of its effort to fund border wall construction. 

Mr Biden is effectively taking one step further towards reversing his predecessor’s hardline immigration agenda for the southern border after having previously signed multiple executive orders aimed at reforming the immigration system, writes The Independent's Chris Riotta.

As the Donald Trump impeachment trial continues later today repairs are being made to the centre doors at the Capitol which were damaged by rioters on January 6.

In the tweet from NBC news correspondent Leigh Ann Caldwell, the Architect of the Capitol can be seen replacing a pane of broken glass.

President Biden is set to meet with a bipartisan group of senators today at the White House to seek support for major spending to modernise an ageing US infrastructure after his predecessor Donald Trump failed to tackle the matter.

The White House said Mr Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with the lawmakers to discuss what it called "the critical need" to invest in infrastructure, with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joining the session remotely.

Mr Biden has pledged to ask Congress this month for what he has referred to as "historic investments in infrastructure and manufacturing, innovation, research and development, and clean energy."

Studies have concluded that close to half of US roads are in poor or mediocre condition and more than a third of U.S. bridges need repair, replacement or significant rehabilitation.

Mr Buttigieg told Reuters last week the U.S. government needs to rebuild the transportation sector for post-pandemic times.

The Independent's Louise Hall explains everything you need to know about how long Donald Trump's impeachment trial is due to last and how many senators are needed to convict the former president...

Former President Donald Trump was reportedly in a “really good mood” during the second day of his impeachment trial, as shocking footage from the Capitol riots was shown.

Sources told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that Mr Trump was unmoved by the footage while watching the trial from his home in Florida.

James Crump has the latest on Donald Trump

One Senator who is taking his duty very seriously is Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy who has been seen making copious notes during impeachment proceedings, as reported by Politico.

Mr Cassidy was one of five Republicans who switched his vote on Tuesday so that the trial of the former president could proceed.

The Republican told pool reporters on Wednesday: “I took an oath to uphold the Constitution. A constitutional conservative takes that oath seriously. So, if I’m here to uphold the Constitution, I’m upholding it. I’m doing my job.”

Mr Cassidy is understood to be torn between what his overwhelmingly Republican constituents will want and what the evidence of the trial could demand.

Some Republican senators haven't exactly been covering themselves in glory after accusations they have been doodling, napping or being inattentive during Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

Texas senator Ted Cruz has gone one further and provoked outrage after tweeting about breast milk during Wednesday’s session rather than paying attention to proceedings.

Joe Sommerlad has all the details

Republicans who rejected Joe Biden's election win on 6 January could have slowed down proceedings so that the pro-Trump mob had time to reach the US Capitol building while members of Congress where still there, a Democratic senator has suggested.

Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democratic senator for Rhode Island, revealed on Wednesday night's Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell that several referrals had already been made to the Senate's ethics committee in regards to the suspicion that some Republican senators appeared to coordinate with Mr Trump on the day of the Capitol riot, by objecting to the counting of the election results.

“If this thing had gone smoothly and orderly, without objection, we might have been done by the time the mob had reached the capital,” Mr Whitehouse said.

“So there’s a possibility of there having been some connivance between those who tried to create the delay and that being used open a window long enough that the mob could fight its way in, and disrupt the count.”

Republican senators Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and Tommy Tuberville — who on Wednesday described receiving a phone call from Mr Trump as the chamber was evacuated — were among those who voted to objected to the election results on 6 January, and were possibly among those referred to the ethics committee by Democrats.

Tommy Tuberville, the newly elected Republican senator for Alabama, reportedly told Donald Trump that Mike Pence had been evacuated from the Senate chamber and was essentially in danger of coming under attack by the pro-Trump mob during the Capitol riot.

“I said, ‘Mr President, they just took the vice president out, I’ve got to go,’” Mr Tuberville recalled to Politico, as he described a call with the former president moments after Mr Pence had been evacuated around 2.15pm that day.

Mr Trump's response, at 2.24 pm, attacked the former vice president on Twitter, and said he did not have the “courage” to overturn the election in his favour - even as the US Capitol came under siege.

The revelation — which suggests Mr Trump ignored information that his vice president was in danger — comes after senators were shown never before seen footage by Democrats on Wednesday, which included Mr Pence's evacuation from the chamber, as well as pro-Trump rioters shouting "Hang Mike Pence" outside the US Capitol.

The trial continues on Thursday.