Washington – Vice President Mike Pence announced shortly after 3:40 am on Thursday that President-elect Joe Biden won the presidency after Congress completed counting the votes at the Electoral College. The statement came hours after an attack by protesters who invaded the United States Capitol in an attempt to stop the process.
President Trump has now recognized his election defeat for the first time, saying in a statement released on Thursday by his social media director that, although he disagrees with the election result, “there will be an orderly transition on January 20”.
On Wednesday, the president encouraged his supporters to “walk” to the Capitol while Congress counted the votes of the Electoral College, the final largely ceremonial step to assert Biden’s victory. Although Trump insisted that Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to overturn the election results, Pence challenged Trump on Wednesday and issued a lengthy statement saying he could not change the outcome.
Chaos broke out on the Capitol a few hours later, when an angry mob of protesters – many waving Trump flags or carrying Trump equipment – stormed the building.
Four people died during the assault. Authorities said a woman was shot and killed by the police and three people died in medical emergencies.
The violence caused members of Congress to flee the floor, and Congress retreated for nearly six hours.
Biden on Wednesday denounced the violence and asked Trump to speak to the nation. Mr Trump then posted a one-minute video on Twitter, telling the rowdies that they are “special” but that “they need to go home now”.
Congress met again almost six hours after leaving the plenary, resuming where it had stopped when it heard the objection of Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Paul Gosar to Arizona’s election results. The Senate rejected objection 93-6, and the House rejected 303-121.
Despite calls from more than a dozen senators who said they would support objections to electoral results in major states, no senator has signed House members’ objections to the results in Michigan and Nevada.
But Senator Josh Hawley kept his promise to challenge Pennsylvania’s results. The Senate rejected it 92-7, leaving the House to debate it for two hours before being rejected after 3 am
Since none of the objections had a majority, they had no chance of success. Even if there was a majority in any of the objections, that would not have changed the outcome of the election. Mr. Biden will take the oath on January 20.