Third-ranking GOP member in House, Liz Cheney, says she’ll vote to impeach
- Pence rejects call from House to invoke 25th amendment
- US carries out first federal execution of a woman since 1953
- 4,327 US Covid deaths yesterday sets grim new daily record
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10.24am GMT
According to the figures from the Johns Hopkins university, yesterday the US recorded 215,805 new coronavirus cases, and 4,327 further deaths. This takes the total death toll in the pandemic in the US to 380,485, and marks the highest single daily death figure recorded by the university since the pandemic began. The previous highest figure of 4,194 was recorded on 7 January.
The Covid Tracking Project reports that 131,326 people are currently hospitalized in the US with Covid-19. It is the 42nd day in a row that the figure has exceeded 100,000.
Arizona reported a record-high 5,082 hospitalized Covid-19 patients Tuesday and on the same day broke a second record: more than 1,180 patients with the virus in ICU beds. In Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards extended an order which keeps Covid-19 mitigation measures in place for nearly another month, saying the state was seeing a “huge spike” in cases and hospitalizations.
10.12am GMT
Overnight, Kansas woman Lisa Montgomery was executed, the first time in nearly seven decades that the US government has put to death a female inmate.
Montgomery, 52, was pronounced dead at 1.31am after receiving a lethal injection at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. She was the 11th prisoner to receive a lethal injection there since July when Donald Trump, an ardent supporter of capital punishment, resumed federal executions after a 17-year hiatus.
Related: ‘A lifetime of torture’: the story of the woman Trump is rushing to execute
10.06am GMT
Nancy Pelosi accused Donald Trump of associating himself with sedition and treason in a strong statement yesterday calling for the removal of the president through impeachment after a failed call for enactment of the 25th amendment.
The final vote on Tuesday night was 223 to 205, with only one Republican backing the non-binding resolution that asked Mike Pence, the vice-president, to declare Trump ‘incapable’ under the 25th amendment.
10.00am GMT
Welcome to our live coverage of US politics for Wednesday, when the House of Representatives is expected to vote to impeach president Donald Trump for a historic second time.
Related: Stage set for impeachment after Pence dismisses House call to invoke 25th amendment