Congress Certifies Biden Victory After Pro-Trump Rioters Storm The Capitol

Enlarge this image


Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., preside over a joint session of Congress to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump, hours after a pro-Trump mob broke into the U.S. Capitol and disrupted proceedings.





Erin Schaff/Pool/Getty Images



hide caption



toggle caption


Erin Schaff/Pool/Getty Images



Protests Halt Congress’ Electoral Count: Live Updates
Citing History, Sen. Cruz Wants A Panel To Probe Elections

Trump had been particularly focused on Pence’s role, publicly ratcheting up pressure on his Vice President in recent days — including as he addressed supporters on Wednesday — to back his efforts to reverse the 2020 election results. Pence, though, said Wednesday that he did not have the power to change the outcome of the election, or to unilaterally delay the certification of Biden’s victory.

And the insurrectionists that disrupted the certification of the Electoral College votes did so after Trump spoke to them, demanding that they fight to «stop the steal of the election — a false claim — and descend on the Capitol.

«After this, we’re going to walk down — and I’ll be there with you — we’re going to walk down, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol, Trump said earlier Wednesday, «and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.



Congress Reconvenes After Insurrection: Live Updates
Congress Reconvenes After Pro-Trump Mob Brings Chaos To The Capitol

As the mob drew down on the Capitol, Trump remained largely silent and did not make widespread remarks condemning the violence, or attempts to quell it. At one point, he tweeted a short video in which he repeated claims without evidence regarding voter fraud and a stolen election, while saying «we love you to the mob that had descended on Washington, urging them to go home.

Later Wednesday, he tweeted that «these are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly tweeted for so long.

Twitter later demanded that the tweet and video be removed, and the platform temporarily locked the president’s account, threatening to permanently suspend it.

Condemnation of the president

For his part, President-elect Biden called on the president to direct his supporters to end what he described as an «unprecedented assault on democracy that «borders on sedition.

«I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege, Biden said in brief remarks. The president-elect also suggested that President Trump was to blame for the violence, saying that «at the best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite.



Protests Halt Congress’ Electoral Count: Live Updates
Biden: Democracy ‘Under Unprecedented Assault’ As Pro-Trump Extremists Occupy Capitol

As the chaos unfolded, some House Democrats have called for impeaching the president again during his final two weeks in office.

Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota wrote on Twitter that she was drawing up articles of impeachment. «We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our republic, she wrote. Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline faulted the president for the violence that consumed the Capitol, and said, «We should impeach and convict him tomorrow.

Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark, Democrat of Massachusetts, called the president «a traitor to our country and our Constitution, and called on him to be removed from office «and prevented from further endangering our country and our people.

Donald Trump is a traitor to our country and our Constitution. He must be removed from office and prevented from further endangering our country and our people. 2/2

— Katherine Clark (@RepKClark) January 6, 2021

Trump also faced critics within his own party for his role in egging on the mob.

«What happened today was nothing short of a coup attempt. The President of the United States has been lying to his supporters with false information and false expectations, said Pennsylvania Rep. Brain Fitzpatrick in a tweet. «He lit the flame of incitement and owns responsibility for this.

And Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton said that it’s «past time for Trump to «accept his defeat, quit misleading the people, and repudiate mob violence.