Election certification: Trump certified winner of presidential election

WASHINGTON — Despite a massive snowstorm that shut down most of the nation’s capital, Congress still has a constitutionally mandated job to do on Monday. Lawmakers convened to certify the November election results which will send President-elect Donald Trump back to the White House for a second term.

Trump, Pence, Harris share thoughts on certification

Update 2:45 p.m. ET Jan. 6: Before the votes were counted, Trump posted to his Truth Social platform that it was a ‘BIG MOMENT IN HISTORY.”

Meanwhile, former Vice President Mike Pence called the certification “the return of order and civility.”

Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters, “Today I did what I have done my entire career, which is take seriously the oath I have taken mine times to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” She added, “today, America’s democracy stood,” The New York Times reported.

Joint session dissolved

Update 1:38 p.m. ET Jan. 6: Vice President Kamala Harris says the joint session of Congress has been dissolved with the ending of the certification

Reading of certificates ends

Update 1:34 p.m. ET Jan. 6: The reading of the certificates has finished.

Trump’s win was certified having 312 votes while Vice President Kamala Harris had 226. He needed 270 votes to win.

Vice President-elect Sen. J.D. Vance also had 312 votes. When his results were read, he stood, smiling. Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz also received 226 votes.

As Harris read the results of each total the chambers erupted into cheers and applause, each time Harris had to gavel lawmakers into order.

Reading of certificates begins

Update 1:11 p.m. ET Jan. 6: Roll call of states has begun. Harris is handing the election certificates to each of the designated tellers who then reads the results.

Harris calls session to order

Update 1:08 p.m. ET Jan. 6: Harris calls the joint session to order.

Snow has apparently affected attendance

Update 1:07 p.m. ET Jan. 6: The Associated Press noted that attendance appeared to be light for both Democrats and Republicans due to the heavy snow that is falling in the nation’s capital.

House has convened

Update 1:02 p.m. ET Jan. 6: The House and Senate have convened, The Associated Press reported. Vice President Kamala Harris is serving in her role as the President of the Senate. She is standing next to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

Senators walk to House to certify election

Update 12:57 p.m. ET Jan. 6: Senators walk to the House of Representatives to certify the election results.

Original report: The Associated Press said that lawmakers will start gathering at noon in what typically had been a largely procedural event, confirming that Trump will be the next president, taking office in only a few weeks.

The certification comes four years to the day after the Jan. 6 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol when it was President Joe Biden’s name that was on the certification results.

Because of the events that occurred four years ago, with layers of fencing barricading the Capitol complex, the AP reported. Federal law enforcement is on alert, CNN reported.

The certification, according to a statement from the FBI, Secret Service, Homeland Security and the Capitol Police, “offers attractive potential targets to foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), homegrown violent extremists (HVEs), domestic violent extremists (DVEs), lone offenders, hate crime (HC) perpetrators, and other individuals seeking to engage in potential acts of reportable targeted violence.”

Not only is the certification a potential target, but so are other election-related events.

“Such actors may seek to exploit certification or inaugural events to conduct attacks, thereby denigrating democratic institutions to draw attention to their ideological causes or cause societal chaos in the United States,” the agencies said, according to CNN.

Before Monday’s certification, Biden wrote an op-ed published in The Washington Post, telling people to remember what happened in 2021.

“We must remember the wisdom of the adage that any nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it. We cannot accept a repeat of what occurred four years ago,” Biden wrote, adding: “An unrelenting effort has been underway to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day. To tell us we didn’t see what we all saw with our own eyes. To dismiss concerns about it as some kind of partisan obsession. To explain it away as a protest that just got out of hand. This is not what happened.”

He added: “Four years later, leaving office, I am determined to do everything I can to respect the peaceful transfer of power and restore the traditions we have long respected in America. The election will be certified peacefully.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Trump beat for the presidency, will preside over the vote certification, The New York Times reported.

“Today, at the United States Capitol,” she said in a prerecorded video posted to social media, “I will perform my constitutional duty as vice president of the United States to certify the results of the 2024 election. This duty is a sacred obligation — one I will uphold guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution and my unwavering faith in the American people.”

Another challenge this year facing lawmakers — the weather. The Washington, D.C. area is largely shut down due to a snowstorm blanketing the region. But the vote will go on as scheduled, despite the weather.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who was re-elected as the leader on Friday, told Fox News, “Whether we’re in a blizzard or not, we are going to be in that chamber making sure this is done,” the AP reported.

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