WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Congress President-elect as the winner of the 2024 election in proceedings that unfolded Monday without challenge, in stark contrast to the as his mob of supporters stormed the Capitol.
Lawmakers convened under heavy security and a snowstorm the election. The whole process happened swiftly and without unrest. But leaves an extraordinary fact: The candidate who tried to overturn the previous election won this time and is legitimately returning to power.
Vice President Kamala Harris, presiding over proceedings as the role of her office, read the tally, including of her own defeat.
The chamber broke into applause, first Republicans for Trump's 312 electoral votes, then Democrats for Harris' 226.
Within half an hour the process was done.
But as lawmakers gathered, layers of tall black fencing flank the U.S. Capitol complex in a stark reminder of , when a defeated Trump sent his mob to in what became on the seat of American democracy in 200 years.
Republicans who challenged when Trump lost to Democrat now after .
And Democrats frustrated by Trump鈥檚 nevertheless accept the choice of the American voters, the House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries saying his side of the aisle is not 鈥渋nfested鈥� with election deniers.
One by one, the state results were read aloud by the tellers as senators and representatives sat in seats in the House chamber. Vice President-elect JD Vance joined his former colleagues and was surrounded by congratulatory handshakes, hugs and photos afterward.
Trump said online that Congress was certifying a 鈥淕REAT鈥� election victory and called it 鈥淎 BIG MOMENT IN HISTORY.鈥�
The day's return to a U.S. tradition that launches the peaceful transfer of presidential power comes with an asterisk as Trump prepares to take office in two weeks with a revived sense of authority. He denies that he lost four years ago, muses about staying beyond the Constitution's two-term White House limit and some of the who have pleaded guilty or were convicted of crimes for the Capitol siege.
What鈥檚 unclear is if Jan. 6, 2021, was the anomaly, the year Americans violently attacked their own government, or if this year's calm becomes the outlier. The U.S. is struggling to cope with its political and cultural differences when . Trump calls Jan. 6, 2021, a 鈥渄ay of love.鈥�
鈥淲e should not be lulled into complacency,鈥� said Ian Bassin, executive director of the cross-ideological nonprofit Protect Democracy.
He and others have warned that returning to power an emboldened leader who has demonstrated his unwillingness to give up the office 鈥渋s an unprecedentedly dangerous move for a free country to voluntarily take.鈥�
Biden, speaking Sunday at the White House, said, 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to get back to the basic, normal transfer of power." What Trump did last time, Biden said, 鈥渨as a genuine threat to democracy. I鈥檓 hopeful we鈥檙e beyond that now.鈥�
Still, American democracy has proven to be resilient, and Congress, the branch of government closest to the people, came together to affirm the choice of Americans.
With pomp and tradition, the day unfolded as it has countless times before, with the arrival of ceremonial mahogany boxes filled with the electoral certificates from the states 鈥� boxes that staff were frantically grabbing and protecting as Trump鈥檚 mob stormed the building last time.
Senators walked across the Capitol 鈥� which four years ago had filled with roaming rioters, some defecating and menacingly calling out for leaders, others engaging in hand-to-hand combat with police 鈥� to the House to begin certifying the vote.
Harris presided over the counting, as is the requirement for the vice president, and certified her own defeat 鈥� much the way Democrat Al Gore did in 2001 and Republican Richard Nixon did in 1961.
She stood at the dais where then-Speaker was abruptly rushed to safety last time as the mob closed in and lawmakers fumbled to put on gas masks and flee, and shots rang out as police killed , a Trump supporter trying to climb through a broken glass door toward the chamber.
The House chaplain, Margaret Kibben, who delivered a prayer during the mayhem four years ago, gave a simple request as the chamber opened to 鈥渟hine your light in the darkness.鈥�
There are in place after what happened four years ago, when Republicans parroting Trump鈥檚 lie that the election was fraudulent challenged the results their own states had certified.
Under changes to the , it now requires one-fifth of lawmakers, instead of just one in each chamber, to raise any objections to election results. With security as tight as it is for the Super Bowl or the Olympics, the Capitol is at its highest security level possible. No tourists were allowed.
But none of that was necessary.
Republicans, who met with Trump at the White House before Jan. 6, 2021, to craft a to challenge his election defeat, have accepted his win this time.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who led the House floor challenge in 2021, said people at the time were so astonished by the election鈥檚 outcome and there were 鈥渓ots of claims and allegations.鈥�
This time, he said, 鈥淚 think the win was so decisive. ... It stifled most of that.鈥�
Democrats, who have raised symbolic objections in the past, including during the disputed 2000 election that Gore lost to Republican George W. Bush and that was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court, had no intention of objecting.
鈥淭here are no election deniers on our side of the aisle,鈥� Jeffries said on the first day of the new Congress, to applause from Democrats in the chamber.
Last time, far-right militias helped lead the mob to break into the Capitol in a war zone-like scene. Officers have described being crushed and pepper-sprayed and beaten with Trump flag poles,
Leaders of the and have been convicted of and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Many others faced prison, probation, home confinement or other penalties.
Democrats decry the day, but many Republicans hold firm in their views. Republican Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia said he was thankful that Trump has promised pardons.
Trump was impeached by the House on the charge of inciting an insurrection that day but was acquitted by the Senate. At the time, GOP leader Mitch McConnell blamed Trump for the siege but said his culpability was for the courts to decide.
Federal prosecutors subsequently issued a of Trump for working to overturn the election, including for conspiracy to defraud the United States, but special counsel Jack Smith was forced to pare back the case once the Supreme Court ruled that a president has for actions taken in office.
Smith last month withdrew the case after Trump won reelection, adhering to Justice Department guidelines that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
Biden, in one of his outgoing acts, awarded the to Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who had been the chair and vice chair of the congressional committee that conducted an investigation into Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump has said those who worked on the Jan. 6 committee should be .
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Associated Press writers Fatima Hussein and Ashraf Khalil contributed to this report.
Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick, Farnoush Amiri And Matt Brown, The Associated Press
