As Congress meets to certify Biden’s victory, Trump addresses protesters calling on Pence to overturn outcomes.

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As Congress meets to certify Biden’s victory, Trump addresses protesters calling on Pence to overturn outcomes.

Washington girded for the unstable closing act of the Trump presidency on Wednesday, as President Trump — unwilling to cede the limelight or his fa


Washington girded for the unstable closing act of the Trump presidency on Wednesday, as President Trump — unwilling to cede the limelight or his fantasy of victory — reworking a second of Democratic triumph right into a day of defiance by summoning supporters to his yard for an airing of grievances.

“We are going to by no means surrender. We are going to by no means concede. It doesn’t occur,” Mr. Trump instructed a gathering of die-hard followers on the Ellipse behind the White Home on Wednesday — basically foreclosing any chance he would possibly go for a standard path from energy.

In a becoming bookend of his presidency full of bravado and falsehood, Mr. Trump spoke at size concerning the measurement of the group gathered to greet him — a lot as he obsessed over the turnout of his inauguration 4 years in the past.

And he continued to maintain up his stress on his personal vp, Mike Pence, who has rebuffed his makes an attempt to dam the certification in Congress of President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s election on Wednesday in his function because the Senate’s presiding officer.

“I simply spoke to Mike,” he instructed the group. “I hope Mike goes to do the precise factor. I hope so. I hope so. As a result of if Mike Pence does the precise factor, we win the election.”

On Tuesday evening, Mr. Trump watched from the White Home residence, based on aides, because the Rev. Raphael Warnock claimed victory and Jon Ossoff led within the Georgia runoff elections on Tuesday evening, smarting over a report that Mr. Pence instructed him that he had no authority to intervene and reverse the election outcomes.

On Wednesday, he appeared to concede that the Republican Senate candidates had misplaced, telling his supporters “they by no means had a shot.”

The Georgia outcomes, if their trajectory holds, would ship to Mr. Biden management of each chambers of Congress, a staggering loss many Republicans blame on the president’s tardy and tepid efforts on behalf of the incumbents within the runoff election.

Unable to win his race — and unwilling to put aside his private grudges for his celebration’s better good — Mr. Trump has chosen, as he typically has when cornered, to distract, disrupt and upstage his opponents.

Mr. Trump’s rally might overlap with a gathering of better significance on the japanese finish of the Nationwide Mall. The Home and Senate will convene Wednesday afternoon for a exceptional joint session to formalize Mr. Biden’s Electoral Faculty victory, as Trump allies plot to hijack what is usually a secular, ceremonial train into a final stand — a transfer opposed by a rising variety of their fellow Republicans and doomed to failure.

Bipartisan majorities in each chambers are ready to satisfy late into the evening to beat again the challenges and ensure Mr. Biden because the winner. However by utilizing the continuing as a discussion board for making an attempt to subvert a democratic election, Mr. Trump and his allies are going the place no celebration has because the Reconstruction period of the 19th century, when Congress bargained over the presidency.



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