Congress confirms Bidenâs election, hours after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
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Senate and House Vote to Certify Bidenâs Victory
The Senate and House voted early Thursday to certify Joseph R. Biden Jr. as winner of the 2020 presidential election.
âTo those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today: You did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins, and this is still the peopleâs house.â âWhen I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors.â [hitting gavel] âOn this vote, the yeas are six, the nays are 93. The objection is not sustained. The secretary will notify the House of the action of the Senate, informing that body that the Senate is now ready to proceed to joint session with further counting of the el
Trump has so far declined to ask his ambassadors to resign, a routine step in past administrations.
For more than 30 years, outgoing presidents have ordered the resignations of all political appointees, who currently account for about 4,000 of the federal government’s 2.1 million employees.Credit.Credit.Pete Marovich for The New York Times
Jan. 7, 2021
WASHINGTON The White House has so far declined to ask for the resignations of its ambassadors and other political appointees, potentially delaying a turnover of the government’s most senior officials and risking more chaos across the federal work force in President Trump’s final days in office.
“This needs to end,” Mr. Graham said.
Mr. Trump is slated to leave office Jan. 20, top Democrats said Thursday they want him out sooner. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Charles E. Schumer both said they want Vice President Mike Pence to flex the 25th Amendment and move to have Mr. Trump declared too infirm to serve.
Mr. Graham said that’s not a good option.
“I do not believe that’s appropriate at this point. I’m looking for a peaceful transfer of power,” the South Carolina Republican told reporters.
Mr. Graham has become a close adviser to Mr. Trump, but he said Mr. Trump’s rally Wednesday did help fuel the atmosphere that led to the attack on the Capitol.
How Trumpâs Allies Are Still Defending Him: Denial, Deflection, Disinformation
They falsely claimed President Trump had no role in spurring the assault on the Capitol. They resorted to false equivalencies. Some even questioned whether the mob was an anti-Trump âfalse flag.â
Many of President Trumpâs sympathizers tried to shift the focus away from the mob scene in Washington on Wednesday.Credit.Kenny Holston for The New York Times
This was one mob they found a way to excuse.
Even as scores of President Trumpâs usually unfailing loyalists condemned him for moving too slowly to call off the swarm of demonstrators that stormed and ransacked the Capitol, many of his most vocal and visible allies in Congress, the media and conservative politics still could not bring themselves to fault him for the surreal and frightening attack carried out by people he had just urged to âfight like hell.â
WASHINGTON — As protesters stormed the Capitol Building, breaching security early Wednesday afternoon before control was regained at about 7 p.m., Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, took to Twitter to