WASHINGTON: The U.S. Congress formally certified Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s November election victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, clearing the way for him to be sworn in on Jan. 20.
The certification of the election results on Monday in the
50 states and the District of Columbia was accomplished in a
brief, formal ceremony during a joint session of the House of
Representatives and Senate. It was presided over by Harris,
acting in her vice-presidential role as president of the Senate.
The quadrennial ritual stood in sharp contrast to four years
ago when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a
failed bid to block the certification of then-President Trump’s
2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.
Trump continues to falsely claim that his 2020 defeat was
the result of widespread fraud, and had warned throughout his
2024 campaign that he harbored similar concerns until his Nov. 5
defeat of Harris.
“Congress certifies our great election victory today – a
big moment in history. MAGA!” Trump wrote on his social media
platform Truth Social on Monday.
Trump claims victory in 2024 presidential race
The joint session of Congress proceeded even as a winter
storm hovered over the nation’s capital, dropping about 6 inches
(15 cm) of snow and snarling travel.
The final certification backed up preliminary findings that
Trump won 312 Electoral College votes to Harris’s 226.
Republicans control white house, congress
Republicans also captured a majority in the U.S. Senate and
held a narrow edge in the House in November’s election, which
will give Trump the party support he needs to implement his
planned agenda of tax cuts and a crackdown on immigrants living
in the country illegally.
Democrats did not try to block certification of Trump’s
victory on Monday.
“We must renew our commitment to safeguarding American
democracy,” No. 2 House Democrat Katherine Clark said in a
statement earlier in the day. “As elected leaders, our loyalty
must be to the Constitution, first and always. We are here to
honor the will of the people and the rule of law.”
Security inside and outside the Capitol was heightened in
preparation for the certification and was expected to remain in
place through Trump’s swearing-in.
The Capitol grounds were ringed by metal fences hundreds of
yards from the U.S. Capitol, and accessible only via checkpoints
guarded by uniformed police officers.
Convoys of black police vehicles were on hand, led by a
10-wheel Baltimore police mobile command center. New York Police Department reinforcements were also patrolling the area.
Inside, extra teams of uniformed U.S. Capitol Police
officers were checking IDs at entrance sites including doors and
underground tunnels leading to the House and Senate chambers.
Trump has said he plans to pardon some of the more than
1,500 people charged with taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021,
assault on the Capitol, when a mob fought with police, smashing
its way in through windows and doors and chanting, “Hang Mike
Pence,” referring to Trump’s then-vice president, in a failed
bid to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
In the 2021 melee at the Capitol, rioters surged past police
barricades, assaulting about 140 officers and causing more than
$2.8 million in damage. Multiple police officers who battled
protesters died in the weeks that followed, some by suicide.
As a result of that day’s violence, Congress passed
legislation late in 2022 bolstering guardrails to ensure that
the certification process is administered in a legal manner.
Many of these changes were directly in response to Trump’s
actions leading up to and including Jan. 6, 2021. For example,
the new law asserts that the vice president’s role is largely
ceremonial.
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