Senate rejects first GOP attempt to block Joe Biden's electors after day of chaos
Category: News & Politics
Via: perrie-halpern • 3 years ago • 19 commentsBy: Dareh Gregorian, Ginger Gibson, Sahil Kapur and Phil Helsel
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
WASHINGTON — Hours after a mob of violent Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a display that shocked leaders around the world, Congress reconvened to count the electoral votes affirming President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
The Senate rejected a Republican objection to the results in Arizona by a lopsided vote of 93-6, and the House rejected an Arizona objection 303-121.
The riots, which left a woman fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer, had interrupted debate in both chambers about the Republican objection to the Arizona results.
In reconvening the Senate after order had been restored, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the nation's government had faced down greater threats than what he called an "unhinged crowd."
"I want to say to the American people: The United States Senate will not be intimidated," McConnell said.
McConnell: Rioters 'tried to disrupt democracy. They failed.'
The senators who voted in favor of the Arizona objection were Ted Cruz of Texas; Josh Hawley of Missouri; John Kennedy of Louisiana; Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi; Roger Marshall of Kansas; and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.
After the Arizona votes, in a joint session, representatives raised objections about some other states — but they were not entertained because senators either withdrew or did not sign on. There was applause as each objection fell by the wayside.
Then came Pennsylvania. Hawley signed on to an objection for the state, which sent both chambers to debate early Thursday morning.
It was an unforgettable day in Washington as lawmakers were forced to pause the official count of the Electoral College votes and flee when Trump's followers stormed the building. A woman was shot inside the Capitol and died later, the National Guard was activated and the mayor ordered a 12-hour curfew in the city that began at 6 p.m.
In addition to the woman who was shot, three other adults died after separate medical emergencies in the area around the Capitol grounds, said the Washington, D.C., police chief.
When they reconvened, the House and Senate had picked up where they left off hours earlier — debating a Republican objection to the results in Arizona. But the chaos of the day appeared to leave a searing impression among lawmakers, including some Republicans who dropped their objections to counting Biden electors as a result, even as others gave no indication they would back down.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who had previously said he planned to object to counting Biden electors unless a commission was formed to audit the results, conceded Wednesday evening that his effort would fail.
Lankford had been in the middle of his speech supporting the objection against counting Arizona's electoral college vote when the Capitol was breached and lawmakers had to be whisked to safety.
"Obviously, the commission that we've asked for is not going to happen at this point, and I understand that," he said. "And we're headed towards tonight — towards the certification of Joe Biden, who will be the president of the United States."
Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., an appointed senator who lost her election runoff Tuesday night, said that she had intended to object to Biden electors but that "the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider" and that she "cannot in good conscience" follow through.
Loeffler nonetheless doubled down on the false claims that there were "last-minute changes" and "serious irregularities" in the election, seemingly justifying her plans to object to the process. Her colleagues applauded after she finished her remarks.
But Hawley, the first senator to announce his plans to object to the counting of votes, defended his intentions and later objected to Pennsylvania.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally and frequent golfing partner, said Biden was lawfully elected, and it's time to accept that.
"Count me out. Enough is enough," he said. "We've got to end it."
What is typically a half-hour procedural event turned into an ugly daylong spectacle, the culmination of a Trump-led effort, supported by over 100 members of Congress, to contest Biden's victory.
Electoral College votes began being officially counted Wednesday at 1 p.m. in a joint session of Congress, where Republican allies of Trump began to object to the votes' being counted from numerous states that Biden won despite pushback from McConnell and Vice President Mike Pence.
The first objection, to Arizona's vote, took place minutes into the proceeding, as Trump-supporting protesters, egged on by the president, descended on the Capitol. After the protesters breached the Capitol steps and began to clash with police, parts of the building were placed on lockdown, the congressional tally was paused and Pence was taken to a secure location.
The chaos began as the House and the Senate separately debated the objection.
How was the U.S. Capitol breached?
Demonstrators could be seen from the third floor walking past barricades up to the building, where Capitol Police officers began running into the hallways and shouting at staff to get away from the windows, saying rioters had breached the building, and they should take cover.
Shouting could be heard several floors down. Senate staff members then began locking the doors to the Senate chamber. A recording then began playing announcing that there was a security threat inside the building and that people should take shelter. Senators were taken to a secure location.
"The scene that we saw on Capitol Hill, the banging, the yelling, the screaming, the demands to enter the chamber of the United States Congress — those are the sorts of things that happen in third-world nations," said Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va.
Before the vote count, Trump urged thousands of his supporters at a rally near the White House to head to the Capitol to make sure their "voices are heard." Trump, who has falsely claimed he won the election , spoke for over an hour before the violence broke out.
He repeatedly urged Pence, who had been presiding over the vote count, to throw out states' votes or somehow send them back to the states, which he does not have the power to do.
"Mike Pence has to come through for us," he said. "If he doesn't that will be a sad day for our country."
In a statement sent as Trump was still speaking, Pence indicated that he would not join Trump's effort.
In response, Trump tweeted that "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the day would be "a stain on our country, not so easily washed away," and he called Trump "undoubtedly our worst" president in history.
Reps. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif., circulated a letter among colleagues urging Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare Trump unfit for office, which could lead to his early removal.
In all, over a dozen Republican senators and 100 House members had been expected to object to results from up to six states, even though those votes have been certified by the states and Trump's legal challenges have been dismissed by numerous courts.
Electors already cast their votes on Dec. 14, and Biden, who got 7 million more votes than Trump, won 306 electoral votes to 232 for Trump.
People attend a rally in support of President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday.Allan Smith / NBC News
The objections had been expected to fail because majorities of both chambers must vote to sustain an objection. If one chamber votes to toss out a state's votes and the other does not, the objection is dismissed.
The Democrats have a majority in the House and can block any objection, and while Republicans have a slim majority in the Senate, dozens of Republican senators have already said they would not back their colleagues' effort.
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It's over. Congress has certified the electoral votes. Biden is confirmed and the next step is on January 20th. Any bets on whether Trump will concede?
Probably not. And it's likely he won't invite the Biden's into the WH for coffee or attend the inauguration.
Biden will officially be the next president now despite Trump's attempted insurrection.
Biden will officially be the next president now despite Trump's attempted insurrection.
It's amazing to me that some republicans still protested the results. One would think that after the attempted coup that they would have sense enough to withdraw from the obvious sham they are trying to pull off.
A sad day for America.
Throwing his most loyal sycophant under the bus.
If Pence had any intention of running for POTUS in 2024, I think he would be more successful if he were to commence the 25th Amendment process. He's already in Trump's bad books and if he doesn't, he will still be considered a Trump loyalist. Think of this scenario. If Trump wants to run in 2024 I don't think he would get the Republicans to back him, but if Pence ran for POTUS with Trump as his VP choice, maybe Pence and in the unlikely chance that he should win he could step down so that Trump would take over. How's that for a horror movie? Oh, the fantastic possibilities....
Talking about horror movies, I just saw on CGTN news that a poll indicated that 45% of Republicans and 20% of Americans AGREE with the storming of the capital.
Pence is very unlikely to run for PotUS. He would be as successful as Quayle. I think Pence has solidified his reputation as Trump's yes-man. This is not a likely candidate for PotUS.
I suspect Pence knows this.
Probably kicking himself for ever agreeing to run as Trump's VP. Trump is going to leave a lot of destroyed careers in his wake, and I think it is going to take some time for his rancid musk to vacate the Whitehouse after he's gone.
Tru dat.
Pence probably started the kicking during his first month.
Wikileaks just dumped a huge number of files, including emails that show Pence and Paul Ryan working behind the scenes to try and make sure Trump did not get the nomination in 2016. Obviously they failed, but then why the hell would Pence agree to be his running mate? I'll bet there is shit that goes on behind the scenes that would just boggle your mind.
Wouldn't it be fun to be a fly on the walls of congress so that we really knew what sort of games everybody was playing?
Okay, this is intriguing. Pence acting as a stabilizer while pretending to be a sycophant? He was not very successful at this (if so).
Pence lashed himself to Trump’s mast while staring into a hurricane of Trump’s own making. And for what? The possibility of overturning RvW and becoming a mouthpiece for Dominionism. Fuck Mike Pence.
Speaking of flies, I guess that the fly that landed on Pence's head during the debate would have a better chance of being elected POTUS than Pence would.
But had he carried out Trump's wishes instead of what he did it would have been overturned by Congress anyway, so it would have been a useless gesture that would have cost him even MORE of whatever integrity he had left.
At this point, and especially given the recent events in DC, perhaps some Trump supporters should be deemed traitors or enemies of the state.