Crowds collect as US Congress meets to certify Biden victory: Reside | US Elections 2020 Information

By Nancy Carrillo On Jan 6, 2021

The United States Congress will meet on Wednesday to confirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden.
Some Republicans in both Senate and House of Representatives have announced that they will object to certification of results in at least three states in support of President Donald Trump, whose failure is all but certain.
Democrat Raphael Warnock is the slated winner of a runoff race in the Georgia Senate, and Democrat Jon Ossoff leads the other, installing Democrats to take control of the chamber.
Protesters have begun to band together in Washington DC in support of Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud.

Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continued coverage of the US election. This is Joseph Stepansky.

44 minutes ago (14:56 GMT)

Trump supporters gather near the White House and wait for the president

As Congress prepares to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, thousands of people line up before sunrise to show their support for Trump’s attempts to overthrow the election.

The President was due to address his supporters at a rally at 11 a.m. (4 p.m. GMT) on the ellipse south of the White House.

Lou Murray, a Boston life insurance salesman, told The Associated Press that he and many others still hoped Congress and Vice President Mike Pence would not confirm the vote.

“I hope Vice-President Pence has courage today, and I hope that any politician who believes they have a future will show courage to stand up and do the right thing,” he said.

Organizers planned an afternoon march to the Capitol where Congress will vote to confirm the electoral college findings, which Trump continues to deny without evidence. Prominent Trump supporters – including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone – should attend the protest.

A man carries a cross to a gathering of Trump supporters outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday [Mike Theiler/Reuters]

56 minutes ago (14:44 GMT)

Trump spends the morning calling on Republicans to overthrow the elections

With Democrats on their way to gaining a majority in the Senate, Trump has spent his morning calling on Congressional Republicans – and his vice president – to discard the presidential election results when they meet for a joint session.

In a tweet, Trump, who has refused to admit defeat and continues to make unfounded fraud claims, said the “Republican Party, and especially our country, needs the presidency more than ever” and said, “stay strong”.

States want to correct their votes, which they now know to be based on irregularities and fraud, and corrupt processes have never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send her back to the States and we win. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!

– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2021

In a tweet, Trump falsely claimed that Mike Pence could send electoral votes back to state officials. “Mike Pence just has to send them back to the US and we win. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage! ” he wrote.

Politifact assessed Trump’s claims that Pence had the power to act outside of his ceremonial role on Wednesday as false. Meanwhile, Twitter described the tweets as controversial.

1 hour ago (14:37 GMT)

What can you expect when the Congress meets on Wednesday?

The US Congress meets on Wednesday to count the votes of the electoral college. This is the final constitutional step in determining the next President of the United States in an unorthodox election season.

In more ordinary times, Wednesday’s event would be a largely ceremonial and undisputed climax of a highly competitive campaign. Not so in 2020, when President Donald Trump refuses to admit defeat, a group of Republicans in both chambers plan to object to the results in several states.

It is almost certain that the conspiracy will fail as objections would require majorities in both chambers to exist. Democrats control the House, and several Republicans have said they will not join their peers in opposition to the Senate.

Trump’s pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to interfere in any way with the process he will oversee is not expected to make any difference on Wednesday as the second in command has no power to unilaterally reverse the outcome.

1 hour ago (14:24 GMT)

The Democrats’ hopes of reaching the top of the Senate in the Georgia runoff elections

Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican Kelly Loeffler in one of the two runoff elections in the US Senate in Georgia. This comes from a projection by The Associated Press news agency, in which the Democrats are one seat away from majority control of the chamber.

Meanwhile, Democratic challenger Ossoff leads Republican incumbent David Perdue with around 16,000 votes. The remaining votes are expected to be democratic.

A democratic campaign would ensure that the party controls the White House, House of Representatives, and Senate for the first two years of the Biden administration, and help the elected president run his administration and advance his legislative agenda.

Kelly Loeffler, for her part, is still a member of the Senate until Warnock is sworn in and has joined a group of colleagues who want to object to the vote.