The U.S. Congress meets Monday to certify that Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November’s presidential election, paving the way for his inauguration in two weeks for a second nonconsecutive four-year term in the House White.
Under U.S. law, sitting vice presidents preside over the Electoral College tally of election results in each of the nation’s 50 states, leaving Harris in the position of certifying her own defeat.
Four years after Trump attempted to overturn his 2020 reelection loss to Joe Biden and his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to block certification of Biden’s victory, ratification of the vote Tuesday is expected be more ceremonial than calamitous.
Harris described her role in a video message as a “sacred obligation” to ensure the peaceful transfer of power.
“As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile,” she said. “And it’s up to each of us to defend our most cherished principles.”
Harris, the Democratic nominee, conceded the election after the outcome of the Nov. 5 vote became clear, with Trump, the Republican nominee, winning the election’s seven highly contested and decisive political battleground states.
Harris will join a short list of other vice presidents in overseeing the ceremony confirming their election defeat as part of their role as president of the Senate. Richard Nixon did so after losing to John F. Kennedy in 1960. Al Gore followed suit when the United States Supreme Court swung the 2000 election in favor of George W. Bush.
The official count of Electoral College votes in Congress has long been a formality in the electoral process, but four years ago it devolved into chaos when about 2,000 Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, injuring about 140 police officers, ransacking congressional offices, vandalizing the building and sending lawmakers scrambling. for safety.
In 2021, Trump asked his vice president, Mike Pence, to disqualify votes from battleground states based on false claims that his re-election had been defrauded by fraudulent voting rules and vote counting.
But Pence refused, with Trump saying “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”
Hours after the riots at the Capitol were quelled by law enforcement, Pence ultimately presided over his own defeat for another term as vice president and Trump’s defeat for presidential re-election.
“I had no right to overturn the election,” Pence said two years later, blaming Trump for the Capitol riots. “And his reckless words put my family and everyone at the Capitol in danger that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”
The events of January 6, 2021 will likely soon play a prominent role in the first moments of the new Trump presidency.
The Ministry of Justice says almost 1,600 people have been charged with a range of offenses stemming from the riots four years ago, with many having already served short prison sentences for relatively minors, while others still face years in prison for serious attacks against law enforcement officials.
Trump downplayed the day’s events and called those detained “patriots” and “hostages.”
He said he intended to pardon large numbers of those arrested and convicted, perhaps within hours of his January 20 inauguration. But the president-elect did not say whether he planned to grant a blanket pardon to all those who have been or have not yet been indicted, or more selective pardons based on the individual circumstances of the allegations facing them. rioters were confronted.
Although no riots are expected Monday, authorities have prepared just in case by erecting tall metal barriers around the Capitol complex.
Biden stressed the need for a peaceful process.
Speaking at the White House on Sunday, Biden called what happened on January 6, 2021, “one of the most difficult days in American history.”
“We need to get back to the basic, normal transfer of power,” Biden said.
He added that Trump’s behavior four years ago, which included repeated false claims that he won the election, “poses a real threat to democracy.”
“I hope we’re past that point now,” Biden said.
