Biden’s win certified after shocking scenes at US Capitol

KABUL (Pajhwok): The US Congress certified on Thursday that Democrat Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have won the 2020 presidential election after an attack by President Donald Trump’s supporters on the Capitol building that resulted in the deaths of four people.

The mob attack also forced lawmakers to abandon the premises and they returned only after Washington’s Mayor Muriel Bowser imposed a curfew and declared a 15-day emergency in the US capital.

Washington Police Chief Robert J Contee told a news briefing late on Wednesday that one woman died in a local hospital after she was hit by a bullet when a police officer discharged his gun.

Three others — two men and a woman — died of medical emergencies as the mob blocked all roads. Fourteen police officers were also injured in mob attacks.

Police arrested 52 people, most of them for curfew violations. They also discovered two pipe-bombs at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic parties.

Chief Contee said police also seized weapons, including pistols, guns and explosive devices, from the crowd. He said the troubles started at 2:45pm when crowds stormed security barricades at the Capitol building and continued for several hours.

After police removed protesters from the Capitol Hill area, the lawmakers resumed the process of certification.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives voted twice on Wednesday night, rejecting efforts to overturn election results in the states of Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Vice President Mike Pence, who is also the president of the Senate, presided over all joint sessions.

Republican lawmakers had planned to seek reversal of electoral votes in six swing states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Even after the attack, dozens of Republican House members pushed forward their plan to undo election results but after Wednesday’s mob storming, senators refused to co-sign all but two objection certificates, as required.

Before the mob raid, 14 Republican senators had offered to sponsor the notices but when the debate resumed, they only signed objections from Arizona and Pennsylvania, which led to two separate debates and votes.

Earlier in the night, 93 senators voted to reject the Arizona objection, only six voted for the motion. Later, the Senate also rejected the attempt to overturn the will of Pennsylvania voters by 92 to 7 votes.

In the 435-member House, 282 voted to reject the objection while 138 voted for it. In the earlier vote, 302 voted to reject the objection to Arizona’s election while 82 voted for it. No Democrat voted for the two objections while dozens of Republicans voted against it.

Republicans are a majority in the 100-member Senate while Democrats control the House. The House held its second voting at 3:10am.

The late-night joint session began at 3:27am and completed its proceedings within half an hour. No senator signed the objection certificate for the sixth disputed state of Wisconsin when the session began.

The meeting concluded that Biden and Harris had received 306 of the 538 electoral votes while Trump and Pence had received 232 votes.

Pence declared Biden and Harris the winners of the 2020 election, adding that they should take the oath of their offices on Jan 20, as required.

Trump previously had asked his supporters to come to Washington and stage protests. On Wednesday, when protests of his supporters turned violent, Trump asked them to be peaceful.

The US president-elect, Joe Biden, called the protest as an ‘unexpected attack’ on America and asked Trump to stop his supporters from violence.

On the other hand, former US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, termed the attack on Congress as an act of terrorists.

Before the protests, Trump gave a speech to thousands of his supporters in front of White House.

He said that he would never accept the election results and that the election was rigged and he was the winner.

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