Washington —VP President Mike Pence announced shortly after 3:40 am on Thursday that President-elect Joe Biden had won the presidency after Congress completed counting the votes at the Electoral College. What was seen as a final superficial step before Biden’s inauguration turned into a day of chaos after an angry mob of rebels invaded the United States Capitol in an effort to stop the process.
Congress had to retreat for nearly six hours after the enraged crowd of President Trump supporters invaded the United States Capitol, leaving four people dead in confusion and causing members of Congress to flee the floor during what the majority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, had previously labeled “the most important vote I have ever given.”
The previous Wednesday, President Trump had encouraged his supporters to “walk” to the United States Capitol while Congress counted the votes of the Electoral College, the final largely ceremonial step confirming the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. Although Trump recently 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 at the United States Capitol a few hours later, when an angry crowd of protesters – many waving Trump flags or carrying Trump equipment – invaded the building.
DC subway police said a woman was shot and killed by the police and three people died in medical emergencies. More than 52 people were arrested, with 47 arrested for violations of the curfew.
Biden made a speech in Delaware denouncing the violence and asked Trump to address 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 almost six hours later, after leaving the plenary, resuming where it had left 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 these objections has a majority, they had no chance of success. Even if there was a majority in any of the objections, that would not change the outcome of the election. Mr. Biden will take the oath on January 20.