Closing summary
Four years after Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the US Capitol to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory, the Senate and House convened with no drama to formalize the Republican’s return to the White House. Kamala Harris presided as lawmakers read the results from each state, and then made the official announcement that Trump will be the next president. Democrats, for their part, held off on objecting to the results from any state, which would have been futile but has nonetheless happened a few times in the past. Remarking on her role in certifying her defeat at the hands of the former president, Harris said she was merely following the oath she had taken as vice-president, and ensuring the peaceful transfer of power to the next administration.
Here’s what else happened today:
Trump, who was not at the Capitol, busied himself by musing about making Canada the 51st state.
Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, warned Trump against following through on his promise to pardon people accused of crimes on January 6.
Biden wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post, in which he cautioned against efforts to downplay the severity of the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol.
The Capitol was surrounded by fencing and guarded by lots of police, both changes from four years ago. Mother Nature has also weighed in, dumping snow on the Washington DC region and a host of eastern and midwestern states.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House speaker during the insurrection, and Hakeem Jeffries, the current House minority leader, both avoided mentioning Trump in statements marking the anniversary of the attack, while signaling the importance of today’s joint session.
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York who was involved in Donald Trump’s efforts to block Joe Biden from taking office four years ago, has been found in contempt of court by a federal judge, Reuters reports.
Giuliani was ordered to pay $148m to two Georgia election workers in 2023 after a judge found him liable for defaming them, but lawyers for the plaintiffs have accused him of not abiding by the terms of the judgment. Here’s more, from Reuters:
The contempt citation by U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan – the district where Giuliani had been the top federal prosecutor – marks a further fall from grace for Giuliani, once known as “America’s Mayor” for his response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit the election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea Moss, brought against Giuliani in 2021. They accused the former personal lawyer to Republican President-elect Donald Trump of destroying their reputations by lying that they tried to help steal the 2020 election.
Giuliani made repeated false claims that a surveillance video showed the pair concealing and counting suitcases filled with illegal ballots at a basketball arena in Atlanta that was used to process votes.
Giuliani has been disbarred for making false claims about the 2020 election, and pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in Georgia and Arizona that he aided Trump’s failed attempt to overturn his loss.
In July 2023, Giuliani conceded he made defamatory statements about Freeman and Moss, and a judge that August ruled he was liable for defamation as a sanction against him for failing to turn over electronic records to the two election workers.
A Washington, D.C., jury later ordered he pay Freeman and Moss roughly $73 million in compensation and $75 million as punishment.
Lawyers for Freeman and Moss have urged Liman to hold Giuliani in contempt for ignoring his orders to give up his Manhattan apartment, title to a 1980 Mercedes and sports memorabilia, and respond to questions about a Palm Beach, Florida, condominium he owns.
