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 the50 states and the District of Columbia was accomplished in abrief, formal ceremony during a joint session of the House ofRepresentatives 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 yearsago when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in afailed bid to block the certification of then-President Trump’s2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.
Trump continues to falsely claim that his 2020 defeat wasthe result of widespread fraud, and had warned throughout his2024 campaign that he harbored similar concerns until his Nov. 5defeat of Harris.
“Congress certifies our great election victory today - abig moment in history. MAGA!” Trump wrote on his social mediaplatform Truth Social on Monday.
Trump claims victory in 2024 presidential race
The joint session of Congress proceeded even as a winterstorm hovered over the nation’s capital, dropping about 6 inches(15 cm) of snow and snarling travel.
The final certification backed up preliminary findings thatTrump won 312 Electoral College votes to Harris’s 226.
Republicans control white house, congress
Republicans also captured a majority in the U.S. Senate andheld a narrow edge in the House in November’s election, whichwill give Trump the party support he needs to implement hisplanned agenda of tax cuts and a crackdown on immigrants livingin the country illegally.
Democrats did not try to block certification of Trump’svictory on Monday.
“We must renew our commitment to safeguarding Americandemocracy,” No. 2 House Democrat Katherine Clark said in astatement earlier in the day. “As elected leaders, our loyaltymust be to the Constitution, first and always. We are here tohonor the will of the people and the rule of law.”
Security inside and outside the Capitol was heightened inpreparation for the certification and was expected to remain inplace through Trump’s swearing-in.
The Capitol grounds were ringed by metal fences hundreds ofyards from the U.S. Capitol, and accessible only via checkpointsguarded by uniformed police officers.
Convoys of black police vehicles were on hand, led by a10-wheel Baltimore police mobile command center. New York Police Department reinforcements were also patrolling the area.
Inside, extra teams of uniformed U.S. Capitol Policeofficers were checking IDs at entrance sites including doors andunderground tunnels leading to the House and Senate chambers.
Trump has said he plans to pardon some of the more than1,500 people charged with taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021,assault on the Capitol, when a mob fought with police, smashingits way in through windows and doors and chanting, “Hang MikePence,” referring to Trump’s then-vice president, in a failedbid to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory.
In the 2021 melee at the Capitol, rioters surged past policebarricades, assaulting about 140 officers and causing more than$2.8 million in damage. Multiple police officers who battledprotesters died in the weeks that followed, some by suicide.
As a result of that day’s violence, Congress passedlegislation late in 2022 bolstering guardrails to ensure thatthe certification process is administered in a legal manner.
Many of these changes were directly in response to Trump’sactions leading up to and including Jan. 6, 2021. For example,the new law asserts that the vice president’s role is largelyceremonial.