‘Republican party needs to do soul searching’

There needs to be deeper conversation about the future of the Republican party, a former US national security council member under President George W Bush has said.

“I think there is blame to go around including on Capitol Hill,” Jamie Fly told BBC World News.

“You had 70% of House Republicans vote against certifying the election results, you had most major figures in the party go along with this fantasy that the president tried to propagate since the election that there was widespread fraud, that somehow he had actually won the election,” he added.

President Trump is facing impeachment over his role in the storming of Congress last week. Five people died.

Mr Trump has rejected any responsibility for the violence.

After the Senate vote the president released a video calling on his supporters to remain peaceful but did not mention his impeachment.