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Thursday, January 7, 2021
In accordance with the 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Electoral Count Act, the U.S. Congress early on Thursday morning certified that the Electoral College had elected Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D) as President of the United States and Kamala D. Harris (D) as the Vice President. Biden, who had served as Vice President under Barack Obama, and Harris, a U.S. Senator from California and the first woman ever elected Vice President, won the electoral vote by a margin of 306-232, defeating incumbent president Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
The Congressional “count” of the electoral vote, which occurs every four years and is usually considered to be largely ceremonial, took on special significance because the results of the election were contested, with the incumbent president Donald J. Trump claiming that there had been widespread fraud. On January 6, 2021, Congress began to meet in joint session at 1:00 P.M. Eastern time to count the electoral vote pursuant to the Twelflth Amendment. In accordance with the Electoral Count Act, the votes are tallied by state in alphabetical order. Multiple U.S. Senators and Representatives objected to the electoral votes from Arizona, and the two houses of Congress then separated to debate the objection. Before a decision could be made, however, protestors breached perimeters and entered the United States Capitol building resulting in an armed conflict with the police. The House and Senate went into recess as the US Vice President Mike Pence and legislators have been moved to a secure location.
Earlier Wednesday morning, the incumbent US President Donald Trump had held a rally on the Ellipse which is outside the White House South Lawn fence line reiterating his stance that the election was stolen from him. Demonstrators then moved along Pennsylvania Avenue directly toward the Capitol Building gaining other elements. Violent rioters overran the barricades and law enforcement officers were unable to hold the parameter resulting in protestors freely walking the hallways. Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who owned a small business in California with her husband, was shot and killed by U.S. Capitol Police. The remaining security officers retreated into the House of Representatives and Senate with guns drawn.
Elsewhere violent rioters raided offices, including US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s, with congressional aides were ordered to shelter in place as best able. Capitol Police issued a request for all law enforcement in the region to respond to the Capitol Building and was granted. Among the already activated National Guard troops, eventually the Department of Defense activated all of the troops, but not until after being requested by the governors of both Maryland and Virginia. All of the elected officials were told to wear the pre-placed gas masks inside the House of Representative’s and Senate chambers since pepper spray was deployed.
Using Twitter Trump posted a video telling his supporters: “You’re very special.” He asked the rioters to go home, but at the same time repeated his claim that the election was stolen from him.
As a result of injuries received during the riots, U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died the following day. A D.C. police officer was Tased by protesters and remains in the hospital. Three persons died apparently of natural causes during the riot, bringing the total death toll to five.
After law enforcement had expelled the persons who occupied the Capitol, Congress resumed debating the objections to the Arizona electoral votes, but now both parties united in condemning the occupation of the Capitol. The Senate voted 93-6 and the House voted 303-121 to deny the objection and accept the Arizona electoral vote. Later in the proceedings, House members objected to the electoral college results from Georgia, Michigan and Nevada but the Vice President did not entertain the objections, since no Senators objected, and so the votes from those states were counted. One U.S. Senator and multiple U.S. Representatives objected to the returns from Pennsylvania; the Senate overruled the objection 92-6 without debate, and the House held two full hours of debate before overruling the objection by a vote of 282-138. In conclusion, Congress accepted all of the electoral votes, and Vice President Michael Pence declared Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris the winners, with 306 electoral votes for the Biden-Harris ticket and 232 electoral votes for the Trump-Pence ticket.