A joint session of Congress voted in the wee hours of Thursday morning to certify the Electoral College vote, ending President Trump’s bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election. After the session concluded, a tweet from a Trump staffer seemed to indicate that the president has conceded the election to Joe Biden.
Objections to votes in states contested by Republicans were rejected by both the House and the Senate, creating a clear path to the final vote on certification, presided over by Vice President Pence. Several of the original Republican objectors announced, in the wake of Wednesday’s riots, that they would withdraw their objections.
After the House and Senate voted to end debate on the legitimacy of the Pennsylvania and Arizona elections, Pence gaveled in another joint session and went state by state to ascertain whether the certificates submitted were “regular in form and authentic.” Once that information was confirmed, the votes were counted and the state election results were certified.
When the votes had all been counted, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) announced that the winners of the presidential election were “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, according to the certificates given to us.”
Pence then announced the vote totals:
Joe Biden 306
Kamala Harris 306
Donald Trump 232
Mike Pence 232
After a benediction prayer, it was all over.
At the conclusion of the session, White House Deputy Director of Communications Dan Scavino released a statement on Twitter, which he attributed to the president (note: President Trump’s own Twitter account was suspended on Wednesday):
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. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!
We’re pretty sure that was a concession statement, but I don’t think anyone but Trump knows for sure if it’s the real deal or if he’s trolling. We may have a completely different story to report by the time we wake up!
Whatever happens, PJ Media will have more on this later today. Stay tuned.
