Who will confirm Donald Trump’s presidential victory? Kamala Harris, that’s who

WASHINGTON – Donald Trumps presidential victory will be certified in Congress in January by the candidate he defeated, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Under the Constitution, the vice president is the head of the Senate, and the role of the Senate president is to declare the results of the elections in the White House.

That happens on January 6.

Under normal circumstances, the vote counting procedure carried out by the vice president is merely a formality and the final step in the complicated technical process of electing a new government.

In 2000, for example, after the grueling 36-day recount battle in Florida, Democrat Al Gore ceded the presidency to Republican George W. Bush on December 13.

Gore was also the vice president and he confirmed Bush’s victory.

“The entire number of voters designated to vote for president of the United States is 538,” Gore said from the podium, before reading his own loss to Congress. “George W. Bush of the state of Texas received 271 votes for president of the United States. Al Gore from the state of Tennessee received 266 votes.”

But this almost didn’t happen four years ago.

Trump refused to accept defeat and sparked a violent insurrection at the Capitol as then-Vice President Mike Pence was set to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. Trump’s supporters chanted “Hang Mike Pence” as they ransacked the Capitol offices.

Trump wanted Pence to ‘do the right thing’ and declare Trump the winner. Trump and his allies spent days trying in vain to convince Pence that the vice president had the power to reject battleground state electors who voted for Biden, even though the Constitution makes clear that the vice president’s role president in the joint session is largely ceremonial. just like a master of ceremonies.

Pence acknowledged that reality in a lengthy statement to Congress. He stated his conclusion that a vice president cannot claim “unilateral authority” to reject states’ electoral votes. He provided a statement for Biden during the joint session of Congress on January 7, 2021.