Congress licensed the election of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. early Thursday, hours after loyalists urged on by President Trump stormed and
Congress licensed the election of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. early Thursday, hours after loyalists urged on by President Trump stormed and occupied the Capitol, disrupting the ultimate electoral rely in a stunning show of violence that shook the core of American democracy.
Mr. Trump, who spent months stoking the anger of his supporters with false claims that the election was stolen and who refused to sentence the violent protests on Wednesday, mentioned early Thursday that there can be an orderly presidential transition this month.
“Regardless that I completely disagree with the result of the election, and the details bear me out, nonetheless there will likely be an orderly transition on January 20th,” he mentioned in a press release.
The assertion, which needed to be issued by surrogates since Mr. Trump’s Twitter account was suspended, got here moments after Vice President Mike Pence affirmed Mr. Biden because the winner of the presidential election shortly earlier than four a.m. after the ultimate electoral votes have been tallied in a joint session of Congress.
There was no parallel in fashionable American historical past, with insurgents appearing within the president’s title vandalizing Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s workplace, smashing home windows, looting artwork and briefly taking management of the Senate chamber, the place they took turns posing for images with fists up on the dais the place Mr. Pence had simply been presiding.
Mr. Biden, talking because the scenes of destruction within the halls of Congress left lawmakers from each events horrified, blamed Mr. Trump for fomenting the riot.
“At their finest, the phrases of a president can encourage. At their worst, they’ll incite,” Mr. Biden mentioned.
Allies around the globe, accustomed to the chaos that has marked Mr. Trump’s tenure, struggled to search out phrases to explain what they have been witnessing.
“These footage made me indignant and unhappy,” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany mentioned.
In Russia, in contrast, the violence match neatly into the Kremlin’s narrative of a crumbling American democracy. The Kremlin launched no official remark, however state tv provided in depth late-night protection of the assault on the Capitol, with the footage of the violence set to dramatic, orchestral music.
The upheaval unfolded on a day when Democrats secured a surprising pair of victories in runoff elections in Georgia, profitable efficient management of the Senate and the levers of energy in Washington.
The siege on the Capitol was the climax of a weekslong marketing campaign by Mr. Trump, crammed with baseless claims of fraud and outright lies, to attempt to overturn a democratically determined election that he misplaced.
By the point the Senate reconvened late Wednesday, hours after lawmakers had been evacuated from a Capitol overrun by a mob carrying pro-Trump paraphernalia, one of many nation’s most polarizing moments had yielded an surprising window of solidarity. Republicans and Democrats locked arms to denounce the violence and categorical their dedication to hold out what they referred to as a constitutionally sacrosanct operate.
“To those that wreaked havoc in our Capitol as we speak, you didn’t win,” Mr. Pence mentioned in a pointy break from Mr. Trump, who had posted messages condoning the mob’s actions. “Violence by no means wins. Freedom wins. And that is nonetheless the folks’s home.”
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the bulk chief, mentioned the “failed riot” had solely clarified Congress’s function.
“They tried to disrupt our democracy,” he mentioned. “They failed.”
After the vote was licensed early Thursday, Barry C. Black, the Senate chaplain, mentioned a prayer within the chamber in an emotional near a chaotic day wherein a girl was fatally shot contained in the Capitol.
“These tragedies have reminded us that phrases matter and that the ability of life and dying is within the tongue,” he mentioned. “We deplore the desecration of the USA Capitol constructing, the shedding of harmless blood, the lack of life, and the quagmire of dysfunction that threaten our democracy.”