Trump’s impeachment for the second time in 13 months — which would make him the first President in history to be impeached twice — appears to be a foregone conclusion. The only question is how many House members vote in favor of removing the President from office eight days before President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in.

House Republican leaders won’t whip their colleagues and tell them to vote against the impeachment resolution on Wednesday, according to leadership aides. Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 in GOP leadership who has been sharply critical of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, did not tell her members how to vote Monday, but she called the impeachment vote a “vote of conscience.” Cheney has not said how she will vote.

Republicans tried to offer an alternative to impeachment, such as a censure vote, arguing it could win more bipartisan support than an impeachment occurring just one week after the riots. But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her caucus Monday that censure was a nonstarter, and Democrats are not considering any off ramps to avoid a second impeachment.

Trump made his first comments on the looming impeachment vote and the Capitol riots on Tuesday, railing against impeachment as a continued “witch hunt” and taking no responsibility for his comments leading up to the riots.

“On the impeachment, it’s really a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in the history of politics. It’s ridiculous, it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn Tuesday on his way to Alamo, Texas. “This impeachment is causing tremendous anger, and you’re doing it and it’s really a terrible thing that they’re doing.”

Trump took no ownership for inciting the riots last week. “It’s been analyzed,” he said of his remarks. “People thought what I said was totally appropriate.”

“This was a brutal and violent attack on our democracy, and Donald Trump incited this by promoting the big lie that he, in fact, won the election by millions of votes but it was stolen from him,” Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat and one of the authors of the impeachment resolution, said on CNN’s “New Day” on Tuesday. “We’ll demonstrate unequivocally that the President’s language, the statements he made, the promotion of the big lie made violence at the Capitol inevitable. He’s responsible for it. He needs to be removed from office immediately. he’s a clear and present danger to the United States.”

The procedural steps ahead of the impeachment vote began Tuesday in the House Rules Committee, which debated the 25th Amendment resolution sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland that will be voted on Tuesday evening.

The Rules Committee meeting was the first chance for Democrats and Republicans to engage on the riots since they occurred last week, and Democrats alternated between telling personal stories about the danger they faced and clashing with the Republican lawmaker opposing the resolution, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. House Rules Chairman Jim McGovern repeatedly called on Jordan to say that Biden won the election fairly, but Jordan would not do so, saying only that Biden won while urging Congress to investigate questions about election irregularities.

Similar to other impeachment proceedings, the House Judiciary Committee will release a report detailing the argument for Trump’s impeachment, a committee aide told CNN, even though in this case the House Judiciary Committee did not take any official action related to impeachment.

The House will vote late Tuesday evening on Raskin’s resolution, before taking up the impeachment resolution at 9 a.m. ET Wednesday.

“We could come back ASAP and vote to convict Donald Trump, and get him out of office now before any further damage is done,” Schumer said at a news conference in New York.

“The bottom line is that Leader McConnell has the ability to call us back into session,” added Schumer. “And we can then move to convict Donald Trump in the impeachment trial and try him. And that’s what we hope McConnell will do.”

McConnell’s office did not comment on Schumer’s demand. If McConnell does not agree, Schumer and the incoming Biden team are preparing to split the Senate’s days for an impeachment trial: Working to confirm Biden’s Cabinet and pass legislation in the morning, and conducting the trial beginning at 1 p.m. ET each day, as the Constitution requires, in the opening days of Biden’s presidency.

This story has been updated with additional developments Tuesday.