Filenews 7 January 2021
On the day the U.S. writes a black page in its History after Donald trump supporters invaded the Capitol, the Senate endorsed Joe Biden's election victory. Donald Trump - for the first time - spoke of a smooth transition of power to Joe Biden.
The US Congress endorsed the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the November 3, 2020 presidential election, after Republican objections to the validity of the election results were rejected in Pennsylvania as well.
US Vice President Mike Pence endorsed the vote of 306 major electors in favour of Joe Biden - compared with 232 for Donald Trump - during the Senate and House of Representatives meeting, which was interrupted by Trump supporters invading the Capitol. But there were dozens of senators and more than 100 members of the House of Representatives who opposed the endorsement of the Biden victory.
After the unprecedented riots that broke out yesterday in Washington and the intrusion of Donald Trump supporters on Capitol Hill, Democratic and Republican Senators confirmed the result, with the country's outgoing vice president, Mike Pence, announcing the decision shortly ago.
The Senate voted to ratify the November 3 election results, following the bloody images that took place in the capital, with Donald Trump talking for the first time about a smooth transition of power. The House of Representatives and Senate rejected objections aimed at overturning the election result in Georgia and Pennsylvania in favor of Biden.
Smooth transition of power promised by Trump
Reacting after the result was formalized, Donald Trump - for the first time - spoke of a smooth transition of power to Joe Biden.
The outgoing president said that, although he completely disagrees with the outcome of the elections, there will be a smooth transition on January 20th."
"I have always said that we would continue our fight to ensure that only legitimate votes are counted. While the result marks the end of the best first term in presidential history, it's just the beginning of our fight to make America great again," Trump said, echoing unsubstantiated claims about the election.
He didn't accept defeat a few hours ago.
However, a few hours earlier, Donald Trump insisted he would never concede defeat in the presidential election, referring to widespread electoral fraud that resulted in his supporters gaining momentum and invading the Capitol.
"We will never give up. We'll never give up. We will never admit," Trump said during a campaign-funded rally in the Ellipse Park area, near the White House - just before the riots broke out - claiming without evidence that "hundreds of thousands" of people attended the event.
"We will stop the theft," he said, while in a similar tone the messages he sent to his followers were moved while they tarnished the historic Capitol building.
"We won this election and won them widely," he said, beyond reality and despite the absence of evidence to support the case of electoral fraud.
What preceded it in the Senate
Earlier, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly rejected (92 to 7 votes) an initiative by allies of Republican President Donald Trump to block the ratification of the outcome of the presidential election in the state of Pennsylvania, continuing a process that was delayed for several hours because of the tycoon's supporters invading the Capitol.
The move led to the suspension of the congressional session that was considering sanctioning Democrat Joe Biden's victory in the election and new, separate meetings of his two chambers. The debate in the House of Representatives on the objection continues and the plenary session of Congress will be convened again after it is completed.
After the outcome of that vote became known, Mitch McConnell, the Republican outgoing chairman of the Senate, said he did not expect any more objections to the ratification of the electoral college's voting result.
A harbinger of subsequent votes for electors contested by unrepentant senators - Trump supporters, though they have been leafing through since the Capitol invasion.
Earlier, the Senate by 93 votes to 6 rejected a request by Republican senators not to endorse Arizona electors in favour of Joe Biden.
The decision and the scope of the result are a harbinger of the final result in the rest of the states that Republican senators are still objecting to, despite the appalling incidents and intrusion by supporters of the outgoing president on Capitol Hill.
Some Republican senators who had initially raised objections, changed their line after the incidents and the intrusion and voted in favour of validating the results. At least 12 senators had endorsed the objections but six remained on the first ballot.
The House of Representatives rejected -- shortly after the Senate -- an initiative by allies of Republican President Donald Trump not to sanction Democrat Joe Biden's victory in Arizona, in a vote that was delayed for several hours because of the tycoon's supporters invading the Capitol yesterday Wednesday.
The body rejected the objection by 303 votes to 121. After announcing the result, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, announced that the joint session of the two houses of Congress would now begin to ratify the results of the remaining states.
Source: RES-BE
