Vice President Kamala Harris has now officially confirmed Donald Trump's election victory in November.
Donald J Trump from the state of Florida has received 312 electoral votes, Kamala D Harris from the state of California has received 226 votes, said Harris after the count.
The two chambers of Congress in Washington DC have thus, in accordance with tradition and the US Constitution, confirmed the sealed electoral votes from each state.
Vance Applauded
The entire ceremony, where the states in alphabetical order read out which candidate received their votes, lasted only about half an hour. When it was all over, Harris said:
The Chair declares the joint session of Congress adjourned. Thank you.
Donald Trump himself was not present, but his Vice President JD Vance was, sitting in the front row and applauding the Republican votes.
The ceremony in the Capitol was led by Kamala Harris, as the Vice President is also the President of the Senate. But Democrat Harris was also Trump's opponent in the presidential election on November 5. Now it was she who read out the electoral votes from each state.
New Rules After 2021
After the deadly riot on January 6, 2021, which was preceded by Trump pressuring his Vice President Mike Pence to act in his favor, Congress reviewed the laws surrounding the electoral count.
In an addendum law from 2022, it was established that the Vice President cannot decide the outcome. It also became more difficult for members of Congress to object to the result, a complaint must now be made in writing and have the support of at least one-fifth of the members in each chamber. The security apparatus around the Capitol has also been strengthened.
The next step in the transfer of power will take place on January 20. Then, Donald Trump will be installed as the 47th President of the United States.
On January 6, 2021, the members of the US Congress gathered in the Capitol to count the presidential election's electoral votes and formally elect Democrat Joe Biden as the winner and next president.
Nearby, tens of thousands of Donald Trump supporters gathered for a political mass rally. There, Trump repeated his false claims of systematic electoral fraud and claimed that he was the real winner. He urged his supporters to go to Congress and "fight like hell".
Parts of the crowd did as he said. The protests turned violent when hundreds of people stormed the Capitol, clashed with police, vandalized, and entered one of the chambers.
Nine deaths can be linked to the storming, according to AP, and over 700 charges have been filed. Special prosecutor Jack Smith formulated four charges against Donald Trump regarding attempts to have the 2020 presidential election result declared invalid – but was forced to rephrase the charges after the Supreme Court ruled last summer that presidents enjoy immunity from prosecution for official actions.
After Trump's election victory last November, Jack Smith requested that the case be dropped. This is in light of the Justice Department's policy that prohibits prosecution of a sitting president.
