“Security inside and outside the Capitol has been heightened in preparation for the certification, which is expected to remain in place until Trump’s inauguration”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
The meeting was chaired by the current Vice President of the USA, Kamala Harris.
The final certification confirmed earlier findings that Trump had 312 Electoral College votes to Harris’ 226.
Security has been heightened inside and outside the Capitol in preparation for the certification, which is expected to remain in place until Trump’s inauguration.
The certification procedure is essentially a formality – in its course, data on the vote of the electoral college in each state is read.
In 2021, however, a session of Congress that was supposed to certify Joe Biden’s victory over Trump was interrupted after hundreds of aggressive supporters of the then-president stormed the Capitol building. They sought to disrupt the procedure. Trump then did not recognize Biden’s victory and called on his supporters to fight to establish, as he claimed, the true results of the election (he falsely claimed his victory).
The US authorities characterized the events of January 6, 2021 as an attempted mutiny. Several people died during the clashes. The certification process was eventually completed with a delay of several hours. Hundreds of participants in the storming of the Capitol were sentenced, some to long terms. A criminal case was opened against Trump himself, which, however, did not reach the court.
Commentators noted that this year, Trump, who tried to influence the certification process in 2021, himself expected it as the president-elect. This time, large-scale protests near the Capitol were not planned: Democrats recognized Trump’s victory. Republicans have majorities in both houses of Congress, which guarantees certification of the election results even if Democrats try to question it, which they have no plans to do.
The inauguration of the president-elect will take place on January 20.