US Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday presided over the certification of her defeat to Donald Trump 4 years after he tried to cease the very course of that may now return him to the White House.
Her process was ceremonial and her remarks perfunctory. Standing on the dais, Harris handed copies of every state’s election outcomes to lawmakers, and he or she stood silently together with her palms clasped in entrance of her whereas they have been learn out loud.
When the method was completed, Harris introduced Donald Trump’s victory. She smiled tightly as Republicans gave the subsequent president standing ovation.
“The chair declares this joint session resolved,” Harris stated on the finish. “Thank you.”
She shook just a few palms and kissed just a few lawmakers on the cheek earlier than departing. The whole session lasted lower than a half hour.
In a video message launched within the morning, Harris described her position as a “sacred obligation” to make sure the peaceable switch of energy.
“As we’ve seen, our democracy could be fragile,” she stated. “And it’s as much as every of us to face up for our most cherished rules.”
Harris joined a brief checklist of her predecessors who oversaw the ceremonial affirmation of their election loss as a part of their position of presiding over the Senate.
Richard Nixon did it after dropping to John F Kennedy in 1960. Al Gore adopted go well with when the US Supreme Court tipped the 2000 election to George W Bush.
But no different vp has been holding the gavel when Congress licensed their loss to an incoming president who refused to concede a earlier defeat. In addition to spreading lies about voter fraud, Trump directed his supporters to march on the US Capitol, the place they violently interrupted the proceedings on January 6, 2021, to formalise Joe Biden’s victory.
Harris was on the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington that day. A pipe bomb was found close by, and he or she was evacuated from the constructing.
During the marketing campaign, she often invoked the January 6 assault to warn voters of the hazard of returning Trump to the White House. She described him as a “petty tyrant” and “wannabe dictator.”
After Harris misplaced the election and her bid to be the nation’s first feminine president, she promised in her concession speech to honour the need of voters.
“A elementary precept of American democracy is that once we lose an election, we settle for the outcomes,” she stated. “That precept, as a lot as another, distinguishes democracy from monarchy or tyranny.”
No disruptions are anticipated on Monday. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition group and the incoming White House press secretary, stated there will probably be “a clean transition of energy.”
“When Kamala Harris certifies the election outcomes, President Trump will ship on his promise to serve ALL Americans and can unify the nation via success,” she stated in a press release.
Leavitt didn’t reply to a query about Trump’s try to make use of the certification course of to overturn his defeat 4 years in the past. At that point, Trump inspired his vp, Mike Pence, to disqualify votes from battleground states based mostly on false allegations of fraud.
Pence refused. Trump’s supporters burst into the Capitol and halted the proceedings, forcing lawmakers to cover for his or her security. Trump posted on social media that “Mike Pence did not have the braveness to do what ought to have been completed.”
Police finally cleared the rioters from the constructing, and lawmakers reconvened to complete their certification. Scores of Republicans nonetheless voted to assist challenges to the election consequence.
“I had no proper to overturn the election,” Pence stated two years later. “And his reckless phrases endangered my household and everybody on the Capitol that day, and I do know historical past will maintain Donald Trump accountable.”
Trump confronted legal fees for making an attempt to remain in energy regardless of dropping. However, particular counsel Jack Smith dropped the federal case in opposition to him after Trump defeated Harris since long-standing Justice Department coverage says sitting presidents can not face legal prosecution.
A separate case in Georgia over Trump’s makes an attempt to subvert the 2020 election is mired in controversy over the Fulton County district legal professional’s romantic relationship with a prosecutor she employed to steer the case.
The most up-to-date instance of a vp certifying their very own defeat got here after the 2000 election. The battle between Gore and Bush ended up within the courtroom because the campaigns argued over whether or not Florida ought to conduct a recount.
Bush received on the US Supreme Court, stopping a recount and permitting his slim victory to face.
Congress licensed the outcomes on January 6, 2001, over the objections of some Democrats.
“I rise to object to the fraudulent 25 Florida electoral votes,” Rep Maxine Waters of California stated on the time.
Gore slammed the gavel and requested whether or not the objection met the necessities of being “in writing and signed by a member of the House and a senator.”
“The objection is in writing, and I do not care that it isn’t signed by a member of the Senate,” Waters responded.
“The chair will advise that the foundations do care,” Gore stated.
After just a few rounds of objections, Congress completed the certification.
“May God bless our new president and new vp and will God bless the United States of America,” Gore stated after saying the outcomes.