Jan 6, 2021
A U.S. Capitol Police officer stands watch on Independence Avenue before dawn this morning as the House and Senate prepare to convene a joint session to count the electoral votes cast in November s election, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump’s extraordinary effort to overturn the presidential election is going before Congress as lawmakers convene for a joint session to confirm the Electoral College vote won by Joe Biden.
The typically routine proceeding today will be anything but, a political confrontation unseen since the aftermath of the Civil War as Trump mounts a desperate effort to stay in office. The president’s Republican allies in the House and Senate plan to object to the election results, heeding supporters’ plea to “fight for Trump” as he stages a rally outside the White House. It’s tearing the party apart.
Updated at 61:28 a.m. ET Thursday
Heading into Wednesday s Electoral College counting process, 14 Republican senators had said they planned to object to at least one state s results.
But that number dwindled after a mob overtook the U.S. Capitol building Wednesday afternoon, stoked by President Trump and his continued falsehoods about the election s legitimacy.
Many Republican lawmakers had based their reasons for objecting on the same sorts of conspiracy theories that election experts say led to the violence.
And specific focus is being paid to Republican senators, as objections to a state s results during the counting process can be sustained only if a senator and a House member sign off on them.
By Susan Jones | January 7, 2021 | 5:05am EST
A protest at the U.S. Capitol turns ugly and violent on January 6, 2021. (Photo by ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
(CNSNews.com) - Joining the bipartisan outrage over the storming of the United States Capitol on Wednesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) later took to the Senate floor to condemn what Schumer called the final, terrible, indelible legacy of the 45th President of the United States, undoubtedly our worst.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell has this message for the American people: The United States Senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. We are back at our posts. We will discharge our duty under the Constitution and for our nation. And we re going to do it tonight.
The Latest: Capitol Police says officer dies after riots
January 8, 2021 GMT
12:40 a.m.
The U.S. Capitol Police says an officer who was injured after responding to riots at the Capitol has died.
Officer Brian D. Sicknick died Thursday due to injuries sustained while on-duty, physically engaging with protesters at the U.S. Capitol, the statement said.
Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol on Wednesday as Congress was tallying the Electoral College votes to confirm Democrat Joe Biden won the election. Sicknick returned to his division office and collapsed, the report said. He was taken to a hospital and later died.
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