US elections: Donald Trump promises an ‘orderly transition’ of power after Congress certifies Joe Biden’s victory

US President Donald Trump says there will be an “orderly transition on January 20” after Congress certified the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, hours after he appeared to excuse the violent occupation of the US Capitol by part of his supporters.

Trump acknowledged defeat in the November election for the first time, after a day of chaos and destruction on Capitol Hill perpetrated on his behalf by supporters who stopped business in Congress for more than six hours.

“Although I totally disagree with the outcome of the elections, and the facts confirm me, there will be an orderly transition on January 20,” Trump said in a statement posted on Twitter by his collaborators.

His personal account was blocked by the social media company for posting messages that appeared to justify the assault on the nation’s democracy headquarters.

Trump added: “While this represents the end of the best first term in presidential history, it is just the beginning of our fight to make America great again!”

Trump had encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol to protest the actions of lawmakers, expressed empathy for the mob, which violently broke through, clashed with police and forced lawmakers into hiding.

“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred and crushing electoral victory is so brutally and unceremoniously stripped of the great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long,” Trump wrote in a message that later went on. deleted by Twitter.

He added: “Go home with love and in peace. Remember this day forever!” In a previous video, he praised the protesters as “special” people and said he understood their pain.

Later, Twitter blocked his account for the first time, demanding that he remove the tweets and threatening a “permanent suspension.”

Trump’s response to the violence underscored his months-long obsession with trying to reverse the election results, spending the final days of his presidency enraged and lashing out at Republicans for their alleged disloyalty.

Trump spent much of this today watching the insurrection on television from his private dining room across from the Oval Office.

But aside from calls for calm issued at the urging of his staff, he largely fell off the hook as the nation’s capital descended into scenes of unprecedented chaos as crowds of thousands tried to halt the peaceful transition of power.

Instead, a White House official said, most of Trump’s attention was consumed by his anger at Vice President Mike Pence, who said he would not revoke the will of the voters in the Congressional vote count.

Pence defies Trump and affirms Biden’s victory

Pence challenged the president tonight (early Thursday morning US time) when he claimed President-elect Biden’s victory in November, ending Trump’s futile efforts to subvert American democracy and nullify the election results. .

In a move that angered Trump and left his own political future far less certain, Pence today acknowledged that he did not have the power to unilaterally reject electoral college votes, as Trump and some of his lawyers had wrongly insisted.

Pence, when the session came to a close, said the recount “will be considered a sufficient statement” of Biden’s victory, but offered no words of congratulations to the incoming administration. It closed an extraordinary day of chaos, violence and division after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, sending lawmakers underground and delaying proceedings.

Under normal circumstances, the vote counting procedure would be a mere formality: the final step in the complicated technical process of electing a new Administration. But after losing court case after court case and with no other options at hand, Trump and his allies had focused on Jan.6 as their last chance to try to influence the outcome.

They spent days in a futile attempt trying to convince Pence that the vice president had the power to turn down the voters of the battlefield states who voted for Biden, although the Constitution makes it clear that the vice president’s role in the joint session he is largely ceremonial, much like a master of ceremonies.

Pence acknowledged that reality in a lengthy statement today in which he sets out his conclusion that a vice president cannot claim “unilateral authority” to reject state electoral votes.

“It is my thoughtful judgment that my oath to uphold and defend the Constitution limits me to claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” Pence wrote in a letter to members of Congress that was published shortly before he hammered in the joint session of Congress. Not long after, the enraged mob invaded the Capitol, overwhelmed the police and halted the process that had begun.

Pence’s move was an expected outcome, but it opened a dramatic rift between Trump and Pence, his once most loyal lieutenant. On a dramatic splitscreen, Pence issued the statement just after arriving at the Capitol to count the votes and as the president told thousands of supporters gathered near the White House that Pence could revoke them if he wanted.

“If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election,” Trump mistakenly told his supporters, who then marched through Washington and stormed the Capitol. He repeatedly returned to Pence throughout his speech, expressing his frustration as he tried to pressure the vice president to line up.

“Mike Pence will have to help us. And if he doesn’t, it will be a sad day for our country,” he said.

Trump, who has spent the past two months refusing to acknowledge his defeat, later tweeted his disapproval.

“Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution, giving states the opportunity to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones they were asked to certify in advance,” he wrote. “America demands the truth!”

Pence was also furious.

“I’ve known Mike Pence forever,” Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma told Tulsa World. “I have never seen Pence so angry as today.”

“He said, ‘After all the things I’ve done for [Trump]Inhofe added.

Despite claims by Trump and his allies, there was no widespread fraud in the election. This has been confirmed by a number of election officials and by William Barr, who resigned as Trump’s attorney general last month. Neither Trump nor any of the lawmakers who objected to the count have presented credible evidence changing the outcome.

While Pence’s allies had made it clear that he intended to defy Trump and abide by the Constitution, the vice president’s move was nonetheless a significant change for a man who has spent the past four years defending the president in at all times and carefully avoiding his anger.

Pence is considering his own bid for president in 2024, and the episode could hurt his prospects, especially if Trump – or supporters who were mistakenly convinced that Pence had the power to change the outcome – hold a grudge. Even out of office, Trump is expected to remain the de facto leader of the Republican Party and a political kingmaker for years to come.

Trump spent much of this today consumed by anger over Pence’s action, including as violent protesters invaded the US Capitol, forcing lawmakers to hide and paralyze proceedings, according to a White House official who He spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

Pence was herded out of the Senate chamber to safety when protesters entered the building. Pence never left the Capitol, according to his chief spokesman, and was in “regular contact” with House and Senate leaders, the Capitol Police, and the defense and justice departments throughout the ordeal.

“The violence and destruction taking place in the United States Capitol must stop and must stop now,” Pence later tweeted. “Everyone involved must respect law enforcement officials and leave the building immediately.”

After the House and Senate reconvened hours later, Pence reopened the proceedings and returned to the task of opening each state’s electoral vote certificates and presenting them to the designated House and Senate “tellers” in alphabetical order. .

After hours of voting and debate, he announced the contest winners, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, formalizing his defeat and that of Trump.

– AP