![US President Donald Trump has been formally impeached by the House of Representatives. Picture: Shutterstock US President Donald Trump has been formally impeached by the House of Representatives. Picture: Shutterstock](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Yb2Jn5LgcGxmVnDUUjd5xi/8d72fa65-274e-4043-95b8-ac4f9d911e26.jpg/r0_0_4252_2400_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
US president Donald Trump has been impeached by the House of Representatives over his role in inciting the deadly insurrection on the US Capitol last week.
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Mr Trump has become the first president in US history to be impeached for a second time during their time in office.
Ten Republicans voted to impeach the president, with the final vote being 232-197.
In a video uploaded to Twitter on the White House's official account, Mr Trump called for calm but did not acknowledge the impeachment.
The president also took no responsibility for last week's insurrection in the video.
"I want to be very clear, I unequivocally condemn the violence we saw last week. Violence and vandalism have no place in our country and our movement," he said.
"Those who engaged in attacks last week will be brought to justice.
"I have directed federal agencies to use all necessary resources to maintain order."
The impeachment charges will now move to a trial in the Senate.
A two-thirds majority of the 100 senators would be needed to convict the president on the charges and remove him from office.
Seventeen Republicans would have to break ranks in order for a conviction to be successful.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement just after the impeachment vote that a Senate trial would not take place until after the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20.
He told his GOP colleagues in a note earlier on Wednesday that he had not yet decided on whether he would vote to convict.
"Given the rules, procedures and Senate precedents that govern impeachment trials, there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President Biden is sworn in," he said.
"Even if the Senate process were to begin this week and move promptly, no final verdict would be reached until after President Trump had left office.
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Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on the House floor before the vote, "The President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion against our common country. ... He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love."
In a break from standard procedure, Republican House leaders refrained from urging their members to vote against impeachment, calling the vote a matter of individual conscience.
The No.3 House Republican, Liz Cheney, backed the impeachment.
Republican Jamie Herrera Beutler said in announcing her support for impeachment, drawing applause from Democrats, "I am not choosing a side, I'm choosing truth"
"It's the only way to defeat fear," she said.
With a large presence of rifle-carrying National Guard troops inside and outside the Capitol, an emotional debate unfolded in the same House chamber where lawmakers had crouched under chairs and donned gas masks on January 6 as rioters clashed with police officers outside the doors.
Trump on Wednesday urged his followers to remain peaceful, saying in a statement: "I urge that there must be NO violence, NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind. That is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for."
The House impeached Trump after he ignored calls for his resignation and Pence rebuffed Democratic demands to invoke a constitutional provision to remove the president.
Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol last week trying to prevent the election victory of Joe Biden being formally certified as the winner of November's election.
The President urged supporters to "fight much harder" for an election victory and to march on the US Capitol.
Five people died during last week's insurrection, including police.
Due to the violence, large numbers of National Guard troops have been stationed around Washington DC and inside federal buildings ahead of Inauguration Day.
Mr Trump was previously impeached in 2019 over dealings with Ukraine but was acquitted by the Senate last year.
Only two other presidents have been impeached during their time on office, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, but both escaped conviction.
- with AAP