House Democrats have now formally introduced the article for impeachment against Donald Trump, alleging he incited last week's insurrection.
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Donald Trump will forge ahead with his declaration of a third presidential run on Tuesday, according to a senior adviser - despite disappointing results in the midterm elections.
The former president faced calls from senior Republicans, and some of his own aides, to delay the move in the wake of a lacklustre performance by candidates he had backed.
But Jason Miller, a senior adviser in Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, said the former commander in chief had taken the decision to go ahead.
“President Trump is going to announce on Tuesday that he’s running for president. And it’s going to be a very professional, very buttoned-up announcement,” said Miller.
The adviser said he had spoken to Trump on Friday, while the former president was playing golf.
Trump told him: “Of course I’m running. I’m going to do this, and I want to make sure people know that I’m fired up.”
Miller himself had been among advisers urging Trump, in private and in public, to delay the announcement until after a runoff in the Georgia Senate race on Dec 6.
Insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump breach the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. Photo / AP
Declaring so early, two years before the 2024 election, is seen as an effort by Trump to deter potential Republican rivals.
He has already issued scathing public criticism of Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor and his main rival, as well as Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, another ascendant Republican state governor.
But senior Republican figures expressed concern that Trump’s announcement so early in the process would be counterproductive, for both him and the party.
Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire, who was easily re-elected in the midterms, said it was a “silly decision”.
Sununu said: “I think what the former president doesn’t understand is if he announces, he’s not going to keep anyone out of the race.
“But no one else is going to announce until summer or fall for a whole variety of fundraising reasons and all of this.
“So it’s going to be a very awkward thing with only him in the race. No one’s going to really care. It’s just going to be weird.”
Supporters of Donald Trump, including Jacob Chansley (right with fur hat) are confronted by US Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol in Washington. Photo / AP
‘Very big announcement’
Some potential Republican candidates, including Nikki Haley, a former US ambassador to the United Nations, have said they will not run against Trump in 2024.
However, numerous others have refused to rule out doing so.
That includes DeSantis, Youngkin, Mike Pence, the former vice-president, and Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state.
They will have the luxury of waiting for many months and picking a moment to declare when Trump is on the back foot.
Trump, who will be 78 when the next election is held, has said he will make a “very big announcement” on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
He had hoped to ride a Republican “red wave” of victories in the midterms that would be a launchpad for his new presidential campaign.
But that did not transpire and a series of electoral setbacks included a loss by Mehmet Oz, the television doctor who Trump had backed in a key Senate race in Pennsylvania.
Trump issued with subpoena over Jan 6 riots
Meanwhile on Friday, lawyers for Trump sued the congressional committee investigating the Jan 6 riot at the US Capitol.
Trump has been issued with a subpoena to testify and provide documents to the committee.
Arguing that he should not have to, his lawyers said that no president or former president had ever been compelled to comply with a congressional subpoena, although some had done so voluntarily.
They said: “Long-held precedent and practice maintain that separation of powers prohibits Congress from compelling a president to testify before it.”
