VIn front of the American parliament in Washington, there was scuffle between supporters of the elected President Donald Trump and security guards. Television images showed a large crowd of people huddled on the steps just outside the Capitol entrance. According to the American television broadcaster CBS, several people even got into the building. American police then ordered the congressional offices to be vacated. America’s Vice President Mike Pence stormed out of the building, according to American reporter Sarah Stierch.
He had previously announced that he did not want to block the formal confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election by Congress. The Pence announced on Wednesday at the opening of the congress session, at which the election result is to be certified. The incumbent incumbent, Donald Trump, who lost in the election, had previously publicly asked his deputy to prevent the confirmation.
The constitution prevents him from “unilaterally” deciding “which votes should be counted and which should not,” said Pence. Shortly before, Trump had appealed to his deputy to prevent the election certification. “If Mike Pence does the right thing, we’ll win the election,” Trump said on Wednesday in front of thousands of supporters demonstrating in Washington. Pence has the “absolute right” not to confirm Biden’s election victory, he claimed. “Mike Pence will have to stand up for us, and if he doesn’t, it will be a sad day for our country.”
According to the Washington Post, members of right-wing groups were among the demonstrators who further incited the crowd. At least two buildings belonging to the parliament complex nearby had therefore been evacuated.
Trump had already claimed on Twitter the day before that the Vice President had the “power” to prevent a “fraudulently chosen elector”. In fact, the Vice President does not have the option of rejecting an election result.
Congressional election certification is usually a formality in the United States. However, several Republicans tabled an initiative on Wednesday to prevent Biden’s election victory from being recognized in the state of Arizona. The certification of the election results is likely to be delayed, but such initiatives have no prospect of success.
Trump spoke to his supporters against “weak” Republicans who wanted to join the certification of Biden’s election victory. The elected president reiterated his evidenced election fraud allegations and announced that he would “never” recognize his defeat.
The elected President Biden, who is to be inaugurated on January 20, meanwhile, campaigned for unity in the country. After two runoff elections for the US Senate in Georgia saw a Democratic majority in Congress, Biden said, “The American people demand action and they want unity. I am more optimistic than ever that we can do both. “
Mike Pence (center) at Electoral College on Wednesday, next to him on the right is Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
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Image: EPA
Biden called on Congress to do more to help those affected by the corona crisis. In December, the American Congress passed a second Corona aid package after a long dispute. The Democrats had campaigned for more financial aid for many American households.
Meanwhile, Biden congratulated Georgia Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff on their runoff elections and said he looked forward to working with future Senate Democratic “majority leader” Chuck Schumer. The victories of Warnock and Ossoff have not yet been officially confirmed.
Biden nominates Garland as Minister of Justice
The news channel CNN also reported that Biden would nominate Judge Merrick Garland as attorney general. Garland was nominated for the Supreme Court in 2016 by President Barack Obama to succeed the late Antonin Scala. The Republican-controlled Senate prevented his appointment as a federal judge by referring to the upcoming presidential election months later. In October 2020, shortly before the presidential election, the Republican Senators confirmed Amy Coney Barrett, a conservative candidate of their own to succeed the liberal federal judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September.
Thousands of Donald Trump supporters had previously protested in Washington against the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election victory. Members of right-wing groups and vigilante groups also took part in the event entitled “Save America March” near the White House. In a speech to his supporters, Trump repeated the unsubstantiated allegations that he had been cheated out of his election victory. “You don’t give up when theft is involved,” he said. “Our country is fed up and we will not take it anymore.”