Congress has officially voted to certify the electoral college vote making Joe Biden president-elect. Biden will be the 46th president of the United States.
The certification was President Trump’s last chance to challenge the legitimacy of the election results from November 3rd.
The certification came in the early hours of January 7th, once Congress reconvened after being evacuated following protesters breaching the Capitol.
According to CNBC:
Congress confirmed the election of Joe Biden as president early Thursday, a day after a mob invaded the U.S. Capitol in a chaotic effort to avoid having President Donald Trump be formally recognized as the loser in the race.
The affirmation came after the House and Senate overwhelmingly rejected efforts by some Republicans to object to the acceptance of Electoral College wins for Biden in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
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Vice President Mike Pence read off the tallies at around 3:40 a.m. ET after lawmakers applauded the result. He gaveled the session closed at about 3:44 a.m.
Minutes later, Trump said in a tweet through a surrogate that he was willing to allow an “orderly transition” on January 20th.” But he added that “it’s only the beginning of our fight.” The tweet was sent by deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino. Trump’s Twitter account was temporarily frozen because of his continued false claims about the results of the election.
President Trump has promised an orderly transition but also promised to fight to prove election fraud and to work to make our system better and fairer.
CNBC also reported on the transition:
President Donald Trump is now promising an “orderly transition” of power, tweeting through a surrogate early Thursday minutes after Congress formally confirmed the election of Joe Biden as president following an hourslong takeover of the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
A statement from the president on Twitter via deputy chief of staff for communications Dan Scavino repeated baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, but included the reversal.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
…fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
— Dan Scavino🇺🇸🦅 (@DanScavino) January 7, 2021
Following the initial chaos President Trump released a plea to his supporters to be peaceful and to go home.
