Pelosi Names Torrance Congressman Ted Lieu As One Of House Managers For Historic Second Trump Impeachment

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) - Rep. Ted Lieu was tapped Tuesday as one of the managers in what is expected to be the second impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the U.S. House of Representatives.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made the announcement shortly after Vice President Mike Pence released an extraordinary letter in which he said he would not invoke the 25th Amendment, just hours before the House was set to vote on a resolution formally calling on him to do so.

In a statement released in response to the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol that left five people dead, Lieu (D-Torrance) said it was while he and another lawmaker were "sheltering in place, fearing what a mob incited by Trump would do next" that he decided on attempting a historic second impeachment of Trump.

Already scheduled to leave office next week, Trump is on the verge of becoming the only president in history to be twice impeached. His incendiary rhetoric at a rally ahead of the Capitol uprising is now in the impeachment charge against him, even as the falsehoods he spread about election fraud are still being championed by some Republicans.

The House convened Tuesday night to vote on urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Trump with a Cabinet vote. But shortly before that, Pence said he would not do so in a letter to Pelosi.

He said that it would not be in the best interest of the nation or consistent with the Constitution and that it was "time to unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden."

Meanwhile, three three Republican lawmakers, including third-ranking House GOP leader Liz Cheney of Wyoming, announced they would vote to impeach Trump on Wednesday, cleaving the party's leadership.

(Copyright 2021 CBS Corp. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)