US Congress certifies Biden’s victory after riot at Capitol

Jan 08, 2021, 09:21 am

		0
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden formally became the 46th president of the United States early on Thursday after Congress certified the votes of the Electoral College. The House and Senate convened for a joint session in Washington D.C. on Thursday to confirm the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The photo shows Biden speaking about the protests around the U.S. Capitol in Washington at a news conference at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2020./ Source: Wilmington AP=Yonhap News

Washington correspondent Ha Man-joo

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden formally became the 46th president of the United States early on Thursday after Congress certified the votes of the Electoral College.

The House and Senate convened for a joint session in Washington D.C. on Thursday to confirm the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over the joint session, officially pronounced Biden the President-elect and Kamal Harris the Vice President-elect.

Biden and Harris finished with 306 electoral votes, while Trump and Pence had 232. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.

With this, all the procedures of certifying the results of the 2020 election have been completed. Biden and Harris will be sworn in and assume office at noon on Jan. 20.

Many of the Republican senators who had planned to object to the certification of Biden’s victory in the general election changed their mind after a violent mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, disrupting the proceedings. Objections to results in both Arizona and Pennsylvania proceeded to the chambers for debate. Both the House and the Senate certified the electoral votes for president with overwhelming difference in votes.

The attack by the protesters stopped the electoral counting for several hours. After the attack, the Senate chose to skip its debate and went straight to a vote while the House went into debate to certify the results of the election. The joint session resumed at 3:25 am, and the certification process proceeded swiftly.

The counting finally ended at 3:40 am on Thursday. It took nearly 15 hours to officially certify Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the winners of the 2020 election.

House Republicans objected to results in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin, but Republican Senators did not join a debate, thwarting the debate between the House and Senate.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump vowed ‘orderly transition’ after Joe Biden made U.S. President by Congress. “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in a statement posted to Twitter. Trump added, “While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”

The joint session was halted and resumed after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building. Four people died during the violence, including one woman who was shot by an officer outside the House chamber.

Trump had encouraged his supporters in his speech to march on the Capitol to fight the election results. At one point, he even suggested he might join them. “We’re going to the Capitol,” he said. “We’re going to try and give our Republicans… the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”

As the violence raged, Trump tweeted, “Go home with love & in peace.” Later, he dispatched the National Guard. Then he posted a video, saying, “I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. But you have to go home now.”

Prior to Trump’s message, Biden held a press conference in Wilmington, Delaware, and said that “it’s not a protest, it’s insurrection” for demonstrators to threaten the safety of duly elected officials.

He said it’s “an assault on the rule of law” and “an assault on the citadel of liberty: the Capitol itself.”

#US Congress #Biden #Harris #victory #certify