President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 14 days.
Top headlines:
Pence announces Biden as next president
House also rejects challenge to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes
Heated confrontation between House members amid debate over Pennsylvania electoral vote count
Senate votes down objections to certifying Arizona electors
McConnell says US Senate ‘will not be intimidated’ as session resumes
Biden calls on Trump to ‘step up’ amid violence at Capitol
Here is how the scene is unfolding. All times Eastern.
Jan 07, 3:57 am
Pence announces Biden as next president
Congressional tellers have ascertained Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won the 2020 presidential election. The announcement was made by Sen. Amy Klobuchar at 3:39 a.m. Thursday.
ALSO READ: Trump’s deputy national adviser, Matt Pottinger, resigns, others consider quitting over Capitol riot
Mike Pence then repeated the totals at 3:40 a.m., first for president, then for vice president.
Biden will take Donald Trump’s place in the White House on Jan. 20.
Rep. Louie Gohmert and other House Republicans attempted to object to Wisconsin but did not have a Senator join the objection. Gohmert said a senator withdrew his objection.
Biden and Harris finished with 306 electoral votes, while Trump and Pence had 232.
Jan 07, 3:24 am
House also rejects challenge to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes
After two hours of heated debate, the House of Representatives rejected the Republican objections to certify Pennsylvania’s Electoral College ballots early Thursday.
There were 138 House Republicans who voted to sustain the objection, while 64 voted against it and 218 Democrats also voted against it.
No House Democrats voted in favor of the objection, while a majority of House Republicans (68%) did.
The GOP effort to overturn the will of Pennsylvania voters failed in the Senate just a few hours earlier, after the upper chamber completely bypassed debate and went straight to a vote.
With no further objections anticipated, Congress is expected certify Pennsylvania’s Electoral College ballots. Congress will then continue counting electoral votes from the rest of the states.
-ABC News’ Mariam Khan
Jan 07, 3:00 am
Heated confrontation between House members amid debate over Pennsylvania electoral vote count
A brief but tense confrontation unfolded on the floor of the House of Representatives early Thursday morning, with some members appearing ready to come to blows while debating challenges put forth by Republican lawmakers seeking to reverse Biden’s win.
Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., used his five minutes to give an impassioned speech during the debate over the Electoral College votes from Pennsylvania.
“These objections don’t deserve an ounce of respect. Not an ounce,” Lamb said, aiming his comments towards the Republicans in the room. “A woman died out there tonight, and you’re making these objections!”
“That attack today, it didn’t materialize out of nowhere. It was inspired by lies,” he continued. “The members who are repeating those lies should be ashamed of themselves. Their constituents should be ashamed of them.”
Rep. Morgan Griffiths, R-Va., then jumped in, attempting to make a point of order and asking for some of Lamb’s words to be stricken from the record.
“The gentleman said there were lies on this floor today, looking over this direction. I ask that those words be taken down,” Griffiths said to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding Lamb’s speech.
Pelosi dismissed Griffiths because he spoke out of turn. Lamb then told Republicans: “The truth hurts.”
As Pelosi banged her gavel, attempting to get the lower chamber in order, several members ran toward the back of the room. Sources, as well as reporters who were in the room, told ABC News that House Republicans and Democrats appeared to be confronting each other in the aisle, and a shouting match ensued about who should sit down.
Reps. Andy Harris, R-Md., and Colin Allred, D-Texas, appeared to be on the verge of a fist fight, sources told ABC News. There was shouting, but no punches were thrown.
The heated moment passed just as quickly as it began, and the debate resumed.
The House is expected to vote soon on the Republican objections to certify Pennsylvania’s Electoral College ballots. Just hours earlier, the Senate voted 92-7 against the measure.
-ABC News’ Mariam Khan
Jan 07, 12:50 am
Senate rejects objections to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes
The Republican effort to overturn the will of Pennsylvania voters failed in the Senate early Thursday morning by a vote of 7-92.
The upper chamber had completely bypassed debate and went straight to a vote.
After the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch said he does not expect any additional challenges to the Electoral College results.
The Senate now stands ready to return to a joint session of Congress, as the Pennsylvania objection goes to the House of Representatives for a vote. Both chambers of Congress must vote in favor of the challenge for it to succeed.
