President Trump addresses his supporters at a rally near the White House on Wednesday as Congress prepares to meet in a joint session to count electoral votes, the final step before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
After repeated failed attempts to flip the result of the court elections and by putting pressure on the state legislature to accommodate their own voters, Trump is now making another last ditch effort, looking at Republicans in Vice President Mike Pence to get him a second installment.
Pence, as president of the Senate, presides over the joint session in which the electoral votes of each state are read and counted. The president has falsely claimed that the vice president can reject election votes, but Pence does not have the authority to do what Trump suggests.
How to view President Trump’s comments at the meeting
- What: President Trump speaks at a “Save America” rally
- When: Wednesday, January 6, 2021
- Time: Scheduled for 11 a.m.ET but coming too late
- Place: The Ellipse, outside the White House in Washington, DC
- Online stream: Live on CBSN – in the player above or on your mobile or streaming device.
Still, some GOP senators and dozens of Republicans in the House plan to do just that disputes the election results of some battlefield states by filing written objections to their electoral votes. However, the efforts will be futile, as supporting an objection and invalidating a state’s votes will require the support of a simple majority of both the House and Senate. Democrats hold a majority of the seats in the lower chamber, and are very unlikely to join the challenges of casting election votes for Mr Biden. A number of Republicans have also called such efforts unconstitutional.
As the joint session gathers on Capitol Hill, thousands of Mr. Trump’s supporters have descended to Washington, DC to attend the meeting at the Ellipse, a park between the White House and the Washington Monument, and to protest the election results.
The District of Columbia National Guard has activated 340 members to support the DC Metropolitan Police during the pro-Trump demonstrations in response to a request from DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Note: Streaming plans are subject to change