After a day that saw the United States Capitol stormed by protesters and a woman killed, members of the U.S. House and Senate completed the official count of Electoral College votes making Joe Biden the next president of the United States.
Biden reached the 270-vote threshold he needed to become president at 3:33 a.m. when Vice President Mike Pence read the results of Vermont’s Electoral College vote count.
After the final count, Trump issued a statement saying “There will be an orderly transition of power on January 20.“
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in the statement.
“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again,” Trump said while repeating false claims about the election that incited a mob to storm the Capitol.
(Scroll down for live updates from the proceedings)
The day started with a rally featuring President Donald Trump who recounted claims of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election, then suggesting those at the rally go down to the Capitol as the House and Senate read and counted vote tallies from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The Electoral College votes, which were cast in December, were sent by each state to the Congress and are formally counted to determine the next president.
Pence presided over the process Wednesday, per his Constitutional role. Trump repeatedly called on Pence during the rally to “do the right thing” and “send back” ballots to key swing states for “correction” or another vote.
Pence released a statement just prior to the proceedings saying that he could do nothing but follow the Constitution and do the duty he is charged to do, and that he would not be trying to overturn the election.
Pence began the process, calling out Alabama and Alaska before moving to Arizona when an objection to the state’s vote count was raised.
Both the Senate and House members had left the joint session to return to their respective chambers to debate the issue when protesters began moving onto the grounds and into the building.
When they return, each chamber will finish the debate then return to the joint session to get on with the vote count.
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Live updates: Come back here Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET for live updates.