Trump Declared Election Winner in Ceremony Four Years After Riot
(Bloomberg) -- Congress certified Donald Trump’s presidential election victory Monday without dispute and with his defeated Democratic opponent Kamala Harris presiding, resuming a ritual of democracy four years after a mob attack on the US Capitol marred the vote count with violence.
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The legacy of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection marked the day with extra fortifications erected around the Capitol including tall security fencing and gated entries, bomb squads roaming the building, snipers positioned throughout the complex and local police from as far away as New York City reinforcing security.
Yet the atmosphere outside the Capitol was tranquil as the grounds were blanketed with heavy snow. A massive storm shut down most of the federal government as well as businesses and schools in the capital region. Few vehicles or people were out on the streets.
Harris obliquely alluded to the insurrection, saying she considered her constitutionally mandated role leading the vote-count ceremony a “sacred obligation” of her office as vice president.
“The peaceful transfer of power is one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy,” Harris said in a video posted online shortly beforehand. “As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile.”
At the Capitol, Harris received certificates from each US state one by one and passed them to an alternating cast of House and Senate members, who declared them “regular in form and authentic” before reading each state’s presidential and vice-presidential vote. No Democratic lawmakers objected, in contrast to four years ago when groups of Republicans forced extended debates on Biden’s election victories in several states.
Harris gave a tight-lipped smile and nodded as Republicans cheered and applauded her announcement of Trump’s winning total of 312 electoral vote.
Then-Vice President Mike Pence angered Trump and many Trump supporters four years ago when he refused to use his presiding role to try to stop the vote count.
Harris, President Joe Biden and Democrats made the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and what they characterized as an attack and threat to democracy, a centerpiece of their argument to Americans against giving Trump a second term.
Yet Trump won the contest convincingly, winning the popular vote and each of the key electoral swing states against Harris, who replaced Biden as Trump’s opponent after Democrats pressured the incumbent to drop out of the race.
For the first time, the joint session of Congress to formally certify the Electoral College votes this year was designated a “national special security event,” by the US Secret Service. The designation allows extra money and personnel to be used to tighten security around the Capitol.
Law enforcement was caught unaware by the violent demonstration in 2021 that disrupted the certification of Biden’s 2020 victory. Hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol after listening to him speak outside the White House. More than 140 police officers were injured in the fighting, one of whom suffered a stroke the next day and died and another four of whom later died by suicide. One rioter was shot and died.
The assault on one of the nation’s most-recognized landmarks shocked the world and hundreds of rioters were arrested.
Trump has vowed to pardon those convicted in the assault, whom he calls “patriots.”
Congress meets every Jan. 6 at 1 p.m. to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes. Representatives of both chambers read the results out loud and do an official count. The vice president, as president of the Senate, presides over the session and declares the winner.
--With assistance from María Paula Mijares Torres.
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