Giuliani says he won’t be on Trump impeachment defense team

The House voted 223-205, on H.Res. 21, which calls on Vice President Mike Pence to exercise his power under the 25th Amendment to convene the Cabinet and remove President Donald Trump from office.

"He is not protecting and defending the democracy itself, the process of electing the president. He is not respecting the peaceful transfer of power," Rep. Jamie Raskin D-Md. said of Trump during the hearing Tuesday night. "He is not taking care that the laws are faithfully executed. He is not protecting the republic against mob insurrection, invasion and hostility."

One Republican, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, voted in favor of the symbolic measure.

It is a nonbinding resolution that carries no force of the law.

Pence already Tuesday said he will not invoke the 25th Amendment.

"Last week I did not yield to pressure to exert power beyond my constitutional authority to determine the outcome of the election, and I will not now yield to efforts in the House of Representatives to play political games at a time so serious in the life of our Nation," Pence said in a letter Tuesday.

Democrats are expected to vote in an article of impeachment against Trump Wednesday. At least four Republicans have said they will vote to impeach Trump.

ABC News' Mariam Khan

The House is now debating the merits of the resolution that calls on Vice President Mike Pence and members of the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Given Pence's announcement earlier that he is not going to do so, this debate and vote are considered to be largely symbolic. 

Members will be debating for one hour, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans. The final vote on the resolution is expected to begin by 10:30 p.m. 

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., kicked off the debate. Raskin authored the 25th Amendment resolution. 

During a procedural vote ahead of the debate, the House voted to authorize fines against lawmakers who don't wear masks on the House floor: $500 for a first offense, $2,500 for the next. It gets taken out of their paychecks.

Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., told ABC's "Nightline" that 12 of the representatives who were locked down during the Capitol siege Wednesday are in a group chat to "to help each other heal."

"We've been working with each other through this process of healing ourselves," said Torres. "It's incredible that we survived."

Torres, who immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala when she was 5 years old, said that Trump's decision to visit the border wall in El Paso, Texas, rather than address the Capitol riots or ongoing pandemic, was personally hurtful.

"The president of the United States chooses to close out his four-year term by continuing to incite racism, promote racism and incite violence against Americans like myself," she said.

On Wednesday, Torres made an emotional plea on the House floor to Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office. 

"It is not about my life. It is not about his life. Members of Congress come and go. So will presidents and vice presidents. But our Constitution is to stand in," she told ABC News after her passionate speech. "Our democracy is worth it, (it) is worth upholding. And this is the moment where courage under fire means something."

As the House begins voting Tuesday evening, some Republican members are furious about the installation of metal detectors, accusing Democrats of trying to score political points and diverting Capitol Police resources. 

When Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., the top Republican on the Committee on House Administration, complained to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer in front of reporters, Hoyer said, "Rodney, we're all going through magnetometers."

Davis shot back, "I just went through one. You know the threat on the interior side of the building. You're taking valuable resources completely away from where it needs to be, and you did it without any consultation with the minority."

"Don't touch me," Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said to a Capitol Police officer. 

Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., a conservative whose insistence on carrying a gun around Capitol Hill has alarmed Democrats -- and some members of her own party -- refused to allow Capitol Police officers to search her bag. After a couple of minutes she was allowed into the chamber, but it's not clear if she was searched, according to pool reporters on the scene.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel