The U.S. Congress certified Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s Electoral College vote as the winner. President Trump later said there would be an orderly transition of government, but he would continue to fight.
At about 3:30 a.m. local time Thursday (Jan. 7), Senate President and presiding officer of a joint session of Congress, Vice President Mike Pence, announced that Biden had received 306 electoral votes and Trump 232 votes. He said, “The announcement of the vote by the Senate President shall be contingent upon the President and Vice President being fully elected.”
Prior to that, Republican lawmakers raised objections to Arizona and Pennsylvania’s electoral votes, and both chambers returned to their respective chambers for debate, but the challenges were ultimately defeated.
For the Arizona challenge, the Senate rejected it by an overwhelming 93-6 vote, and the House rejected it by a 303-121 vote. Similarly, for Pennsylvania’s challenge, the Senate rejected it by a vote of 92-7 and the House rejected it by a vote of 282-138.
During the House debate on Pennsylvania, Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb (R-PA) made some comments that were considered provocative, which led to an altercation between him and a Republican lawmaker. The Republican congressman was eventually ejected from the chamber for preventing Lamb from continuing to speak.
After Congress announced the results, President Trump issued a statement through White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino. His own Twitter account was blocked.
The statement said, “While I completely disagree with the election results, and the facts will bear me out, the transition on Jan. 20 will be orderly. I have always said I will continue to fight to ensure that only legitimate votes are counted. This represents the end of the greatest first term in (U.S.) presidential history, but for ‘America Great Again,’ this is just the beginning of our fight!”
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