The United States Congress certifies Donald Trump's November 2024 electoral victory. Vice President Kamala Harris presided over the session.
The United States Congress formally certified this Monday the November electoral victory of the Republican President-elect Donald Trump on Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, clearing the way for her to be sworn in on January 20.
The certification of election results in all 50 states and the District of Columbia took place in a brief formal ceremony during a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The ceremony was presided over by Harris, who acted in her role as vice president as president of the Senate.
The ritual that is carried out every four years contrasts markedly with that of 2020, when A mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a failed attempt to block the certification of then-President Trump's 2020 loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.
Trump continues to falsely claim that his 2020 loss was the result of widespread fraud, and had warned throughout his 2024 campaign that he harbored similar concerns until his defeat of Harris on November 5.
“Today Congress certifies our great election victory, a great moment in history. MAGA!” Trump wrote Monday on his Truth Social social media platform.
The joint session of Congress took place while a winter storm hit the US capital, dropping about 15 centimeters of snow and making traffic difficult.
The final certification supported preliminary findings that Trump won 312 Electoral College votes to Harris' 226.
Democrats did not attempt to block the certification of Trump's victory on Monday.
“We must renew our commitment to safeguarding American democracy,” the House's No. 2 Democrat, Katherine Clark, said in a statement earlier in the day.
“As elected leaders, our loyalty must be to the Constitution, first and always. We are here to honor the will of the people and the rule of law.”
Security inside and outside the Capitol was increased in preparation for the certification and is expected to remain in place until Trump's inauguration.
The Capitol grounds were surrounded by metal fencing for hundreds of feet and could only be accessed through checkpoints guarded by uniformed police officers.
There were caravans of black police vehicles in sight, led by a 10-wheeled Baltimore police mobile command center. There were also reinforcements from the New York Police Department patrolling the area.
Inside, additional teams of uniformed Capitol Police officers were checking IDs at entry sites, including doors and underground tunnels leading to the House and Senate chambers.
Trump has said that plans to pardon some of the more than 1,500 people accused of participating in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when a mob clashed with police, forcing their way through windows and doors and chanting “Hang Mike Pence,” in reference to Trump's then vice president, in a failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying Biden's victory.
In the 2021 fight at the Capitol, rioters broke through police barricades, assaulted about 140 officers and caused more than $2.8 million in damage. Several police officers who fought against the protesters died in the following weeks, some by suicide.
As a result of the violence that day, Congress passed legislation in late 2022 that strengthens security measures to ensure that the certification process is administered legally.
Many of these changes were a direct response to Trump's actions up to January 6, 2021. For example, the new law states that the vice president's role is largely ceremonial.