Pence affirms Biden as winner, formalizing electoral count after day of riots at Capitol; Trump prepares for exit Ledyard King, Maureen Groppe, Nicholas Wu, Bart Jansen, Courtney Subramanian and Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
Watch as Congress certifies Joe Biden s presidential victory
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Pence officially declared Biden the winner at 3:41 a.m. EST. Not long after, Trump released a statement through a White House social media account, acknowledging Biden s win, a first. 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 s statement said.
In a video message tweeted as authorities struggled to take control of Capitol Hill, President Trump refused to refrain from promoting his baseless allegations of mass voter fraud and said loyalists who had swarmed the seat of American democracy were “very special.”
Meanwhile, Congressman John Garamendi, D-Davis, took to Facebook on Wednesday about the Capitol breach and lockdown, calling the situation a blatant attack on American democracy.
In his post, Garamendi said: We will have a transfer of power on January 20th, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will become President and Vice President on that day. American democracy has survived over 200 years, and it will survive Donald Trump.”
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a Democrat representing coastal Northern California, also tweeted Wednesday about events unfolding in the Capitol.
“Trump s Coup Mob has stormed into the Cannon House office building, overwhelming Capitol Police and forcing my colleagues to evacuate. This is unprecedented,” Huffman tweeted.
Defying U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice-President Mike Pence acknowledged Wednesday he does not have the power to throw out the electoral votes that will make Democrat Joe Biden the next president in two weeks, dashing Trump s baseless hopes that Pence somehow could find a way to keep him in office.