WASHINGTON, Jan 13: Meeting under a thick cloak of armed security, the US House of Representatives late on Wednesday voted to impeach President Donald Trump for inciting mobs to storm US Caiptol, the US parliament house, last Wednesday to prevent the Congress session from counting the electoral votes of the presidential election which former Vice-President and Democrat Joe Biden had won, defeating the incumbent President.

However, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, although a critic of Trump's misdemeanour, said there was "simply no chance that a fair or serious trial" could be held given "the rules, procedures, and Senate precedents" that govern trials and the limited time for his term to end in seven days.

The Democrats will be in majority when the two new Georgian Senators are sworn in.

The chamber itself is scheduled to meet only on January 19, a day before the inauguration of the new President. McConnell said he is not going to reconvene the chamber earlier than the scheduled date.

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says if only he is convicted a vote can be taken to bar him from contesting elections in future.

In a video released after the vote, Trump called on his supporters to remain peaceful, without referring to the impeachment.

The voting on impeachment took place under tight security with armed guards in camouflage carrying assault rifles positioned inside the Capitol building. Outside in the city too armed national guards were deployed and all public spaces were blocked.

The resolution charged Trump with "incitement of insurrection". Signing the article of impeachment Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "Today in a bipartisan way the House demonstrated that no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States." Ten Republicans joined the move.

Trump is the third President to be impeached in American history, and the first to be impeached twice. Andrew Johnson was impeached in 1868 and it took 83 days; Bill Clinton in 1999 (37 days); Trump in 2020 (21 days).

The US House had voted a resolution on Tuesday late night calling on Vice-President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove President Trump. Although even before the vote, Pence, breaking his silence over invoking 25th Amendment, wrote to Pelosi that he will not take that initiative given that only eight days are left for Trump in office.

The resolution had implored Pence to declare Trump “incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as acting President.” However, a Vice-President is not bound by what a House proposes. Republicans had said it is not the job of the House.