Trump agrees to leave after riot, but more than 140 Republicans vote to stop Biden victory
Trump issued his statement through an aideâs Twitter account, since he s locked out of Twitter for fomenting riot
January 7, 2021 5:41PM (UTC)
Vice President Mike Pence presides over a joint session of Congress on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden s 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. A group of Republican senators said they would reject the Electoral College votes of several states unless Congress appointed a commission to audit the election results. (Jim Lo Scalzo - Pool/Getty Images)
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Vice President Mike Pence called the day’s riots by a pro-Donald Trump mob a “dark day” and said he condemns the violence “in the strongest possible terms” as Congress returned to work on certifying his boss’ election loss.
“Let’s get back to work,” Mr Trump’s long-loyal No. 2 said to a standing ovation from senators of both parties.
“To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today: you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins,” he said in remarks that stood in sharp contrast to a short video Mr Trump posted essentially defending the angry mob he incited at a rally around midday. “And this is still the people’s house. And as we reconvene in this chamber the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy.”
The US faces 13 potentially perilous days before the departure of a divisive commander-in-chief who yesterday set his mob on the US Capitol in an act of insurrection that shattered a more than 220-year tradition of peaceful transfers of power.
President Donald Trump again shocked the world: his seditious behaviour provoked a full crisis inside his White House bunker in his final days, following a fracture with his ultra-loyal Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to join the futile but destructive effort to overturn the result of the election.
After orchestrating one of the most notorious days in US political history and trashing democracy by refusing for weeks to accept his defeat, Trump suddenly issued a dead-of-night statement belatedly pledging an orderly transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.
DC mayor extends public emergency for 15 days in response to Capitol riots
From CNN s Adrienne Winston
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced she is extending the public emergency to 15 days, as a result of rioters overtaking the US Capitol building earlier today. This will take the emergency declaration until the day after President-elect Joe Biden s inauguration.
The mayor says that the people who stormed the Capitol, “sought to disrupt the Congressional proceedings relating to the acceptance of electoral college votes.”
“Persons are dissatisfied with judicial rulings and the findings of State Boards of Elections, and some persons can be expected to continue their violent protests through the inauguration.”
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$740 Billion Pentagon Bill receives all but six Democrat votes in Senate
“The United States government should be responding to the needs, to the desperation, of families in our country at this time.”
All but six Democrats voted for the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act.
The six are Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
The dozens of Democrats that joined Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans voted to override President Donald Trump’s veto of the bill.
According to Truthout, the vote on the motion to proceed to the NDAA veto override came after Sanders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and others denied McConnell unanimous consent last week to speedily advance the behemoth military spending bill, a tactic aimed at securing a clean vote on House-passed legislation that would deliver $2