FILE PHOTO: A mob of supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump fight with members of law enforcement at a door they broke open as they storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Congress will convene Monday to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, four years to the day after Trump’s supporters rioted inside the U.S. Capitol to protest his defeat in the 2020 election.
While Trump falsely denied his loss to President Joe Biden and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, Monday’s joint session to confirm Trump’s return to power is expected to avoid repeating any similar violence or chaos.
Harris, who will preside over the proceedings, has not challenged the election outcome or spread false conspiracy theories to undermine confidence in the results, as Trump did.
Nor have Harris and her allies pursued a flurry of legal actions to try to overturn the election outcome, as Trump and his allies did.
Democrats are also not expected to raise objections to the electoral results during the certification proceedings themselves, as some Republican senators and a majority of GOP House members did in 2021.
Harris, in a recorded video obtained first by NBC News, said her role is a “sacred obligation” and that she is “guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution and my unwavering faith in the American people.”
But while the process may be reverting to its traditionally ceremonial role in the peaceful transition of power, the scars left from 2021 can still be seen.
The Capitol complex will be under heavy security as lawmakers meet to certify the election. The Homeland Security Department in September designated Jan. 6, 2025, a “National Special Security Event” for the first time, prompting law enforcement at all levels to enact a comprehensive security plan around the Capitol.
The certification events will also take place while hundreds of people are in jail for their involvement in the 2021 riot. The Justice Department’s efforts to investigate and prosecute rioters — the largest such probe in U.S. history — have yielded charges against more than 1,580 defendants and convictions for about 1,270 of them.
Trump, who was impeached for a second time for inciting the mob that attacked the Capitol, has vowed to pardon its participants — possibly including those who assaulted police officers, though he said there “may be some exceptions.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Monday morning that DOJ prosecutors “have sought to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6 attack on our democracy with unrelenting integrity.”
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
